Former Disney CEO Bob Iger will be part of a enterprise capital agency run by Jared Kushner brother to advise on the corporate’s potential investments and function a mentor to startup founders.
Josh Kushner, a former Goldman Sachs banker, based Thrive Capital in 2009. The New York-based agency has backed a bunch of high-profile startups, together with Instagram, Spotify Know-how, Robinhood Markets and funds supplier Stripe.
Iger won't come aboard on a full-time foundation, however can be concerned in “all of the issues” that the agency does, Kushner informed The Wall Avenue Journal.
Kushner, whose brother is former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and was a key advisor in his administration, raised $3 billion in funds in February — essentially the most it has ever raised, the Journal reported.
Iger stepped down as CEO of Disney in 2020 and chairman on the finish of final 12 months. Since then, he has been an energetic investor within the startup area, nabbing stakes in toy model Funko, supply service GoPuff and metaverse avatar firm Genies.
Iger can be engaged on a brand new ebook on management, following up on his 2019 memoir, in keeping with The Hollywood Reporter.
Since leaving Disney, the longtime CEO has grow to be an occasional critic of his successor Bob Chapek, in addition to a media soothsayer.
Iger spoke out towards Florida’s “Don’t Say Homosexual” regulation as Chapek flip-flopped on his response earlier this 12 months. In the meantime, stories started to floor that the longtime CEO regretted handing over the reins to Chapek following a bunch of missteps, as critics informed The Put up they hoped for an Iger return.
Extra not too long ago, the exec made information at a tech convention in Los Angeles final week when he let it slip that Disney was on the verge of buying Twitter in 2016. Iger mentioned he pulled the plug as a result of the platform was stuffed with “hate speech” and bots, echoing an analogous declare made by Tesla boss Elon Musk as he tries to get out of the $44 billion deal to purchase the social media website.
He additionally criticized the streaming panorama, explaining that whereas main corporations like Netflix, Disney, Apple and Amazon have a powerful foothold, smaller entrants received’t be as fortunate.
With out naming opponents like Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO Max, Discovery+, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Paramount’s Paramount+, Iger supplied a extra dire prediction.
“They’ve acquired some robust fingers, and it takes numerous capital to be in that enterprise,” he mentioned. “I don’t assume they’ll all make it.
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