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Former Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger is joining the board of the “avatar technology” metaverse company Genies, while also investing an undisclosed amount in the firm.
“I’ve always been drawn to the intersection between technology and art, and Genies provides unique and compelling opportunities to harness the power of that combination to enable new forms of creativity, expression and communication,” Iger said in a statement.
According to a company statement, Iger will help the company “navigate its mission to empower humans to create their own avatar ecosystems.”
“We believe that avatar ecosystems are going to be the mobile apps of web3,” Genies CEO Akash Nigam said in a statement. “An ambitious vision calls for rare mindshare and I can’t think of a better creative and product thinker than Bob to collaborate with in bringing this all to reality.”
According to the company, it has a “99% celebrity avatar market share,” and has previously struck partnerships with entertainment giants Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group so serve as their official provider of avatars — which essentially allow users to create a persona for navigation within the “web3” online universe.
Iger said after learning more about Nigam’s plans for Genies, “I am very excited about his vision and how it will be fulfilled, and I look forward to working with the entire team.”
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