Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) is the latest company that could be launching into the fast-growing non-fungible token space.
What Happened: A new job posting on the Disney Careers site for a Business Development Manager for the Parks, Experiences and Products business segment involves NFTs in the description.
“You will help lead Disney’s efforts in the NFT space including monitoring the evolving marketplace, setting category strategy, and managing key partners,” the job posting says.
The person will help identify and secure “incremental revenue opportunities.” The job posting was listed on Jan. 30 and has a location of Glendale, California.
Other job postings by Disney also include the phrase “NFT” in them with a total of four potential jobs from the media company connecting the sector.
A post for a Culture Trend Marketing Manager at streaming platform Hulu lists NFTs and cryptocurrency as possibilities for growth.
“Focus on how Hulu as a brand can break through into other spaces outside of streaming (i.e. music, gaming, NFTs, crypto, metaverse, etc.),” the posting says.
A post for a Director of Sales & Digital Marketing for Disney Music Group mentions NFTs. The candidate is expected to lead Disney Music Group into emerging technologies, which are mentioned as augmented reality, virtual reality, filters, NFTs and livestreams. The candidate is expected to participate in The Walt Disney Co NFT committee as well.
ESPN, the sports vertical from Disney, is seeking ESPN Business Development & Innovation interns for Summer 2022. The candidates are expected to have a “strong understanding of new technologies in the industry (e.g. NFTs, cryptocurrency, blockchain technology).
Related Link: Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel, Disney NFTs Are Coming: What You Need To Know
Why It’s Important: The job posting from Disney comes after former CEO Bob Iger hinted at the NFT opportunity.
“I think you’re going to see an explosion of things being created, traded, collected in NFTs,” Iger said. “When you think about all the copyright and trademarks, characters Disney has, and the NFT possibility, they’re extraordinary.”
Iger cautioned on trademark issues being seen in the industry with collections on OpenSea using Disney content without permission.
Disney previously partnered with digital collectibles platform Veve to launch NFTs of Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar characters. Outside of that deal, Disney had been relatively quiet in the NFT space.
One job posting mentions the Walt Disney NFT committee, which shows the company could have been exploring NFT opportunities quietly behind the scenes for a while.
Disney reports quarterly financial results on Feb. 9 and could choose to announce any NFT plans or could be questioned about the future of NFTs and the metaverse for the company on its conference call.
DIS Price Action: Shares are down 1% to $141.35 on Thursday compared to a 52-week trading range of $129.26 to $203.02.
