Disney has appointed a CEO to oversee strategy for the Metaverse.

Disney has appointed a CEO to lead the entertainment giant's strategy for the Metaverse specifically. Mike White, who has worked with the company for more than ten years, will lead a team of senior executives.

To the staff, CEO Bob Chapek said the Metaverse was the "next big frontier in storytelling" to explore. Tech giants, including Facebook Meta and Microsoft owners, are pouring billions of dollars into the Metaverse.

In the note, Mr. Chapek describes the Metaverse as "the perfect place to pursue our pillars of strategic excellence in storytelling, innovation, and audience centricity."

"Teams from across the company were researching this new canvas, and I was amazed by what I saw," he said. Mr. White will serve as Disney's senior vice president for next-generation storytelling and consumer experience.

According to the company, in his newly created role, he will allocate resources, explore partnerships, and encourage knowledge sharing across the Metaverse.

He will also lead a team with technology, strategy, and storytelling skills.

Disney said they see the Metaverse as the next evolution in the nearly 100-year history of storytelling. Last week, Disney said sales at its theme parks in the United States rose above pre-pandemic levels. He also announced that his Disney+ streaming service added 11.8 million subscribers in the final three months of 2021, bringing in nearly 130 million worldwide.

Metaverse is an world where people can play, work and communicate in virtual environments, often with VR headsets. It is being heralded by some of the world's largest technology companies as a critical development in the next generation of the Internet.

The company, formerly known as Facebook, has made its biggest bet on the Metaverse. Last year Facebook changed its company name to Meta Platforms and said it plans to spend more than $10 billion (£7.4 billion) to develop virtual reality software and hardware.

Microsoft, meanwhile, announced that it is adding avatars and 3D virtual environments to its Teams chat system as part of its push for the Metaverse.