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Breaking: A New Reign At Disney
Breaking: A New Reign At Disney
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Disney has a new CEO, Bob Chapek, the former head of Disney parks and experience. The move is a shock given Disney's big push into streaming and direct-to-consumer platforms — not Chapek's area of expertise. In other news, you could soon use your Bird app to pay for local goods and services, and Pipe gets funding to help SaaS companies take off.
The Walt Disney Corp. shocked investors Tuesday by announcing Robert A. Iger is immediately stepping down from his role CEO and will be replaced by Bob Chapek, who most recently served as Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
When Iger would leave and who would succeed him has been a favorite Hollywood parlor game for years. The choice of Chapek, who rose through the ranks of the company's still-profitable but old-line theme park and studio divisions is a blow to Kevin Mayer, who heads the direct to consumer division that includes Disney+ and was seen as a likely successor to Iger. Read more >>
Bird Rides Inc., whose ubiquitous rental scooters are a staple of Los Angeles street corners, is getting into the electronic pay business. "Store owners in the community often tell me, 'Birds outside bring business inside," CEO and founder Travis VanderZanden said. "This phenomenon paired with our commitment to community resulted in Bird Pay which helps drive even more customers to local businesses."
The Santa Monica-based company is testing the concept at select local businesses in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. But it could roll out to other big cities if Bird Pay takes off. Read more >>
Software as a service (SaaS) companies face a constant problem: They need money upfront to fund operations but their customers want to pay monthly. That means SaaS companies have to either provide discounts upwards of 40% for upfront payments or raise more capital, which hurts existing shareholders.
Pipe, says it has a solution: a platform that enables companies with recurring revenues to tap into their deferred cash flows with an instant cash advance. With the the help of Craft Ventures and several other VCs, it now has $6M to get started. Read more >>