Dive Brief:
- Bob Iger, former CEO and chairman of The Walt Disney Company, is making an unspecified investment in Gopuff and will serve as an advisor to the instant delivery firm’s executive team, according to a press release on Wednesday.
- Gopuff said it is looking to tap Iger’s background in leading a company focused on developing relationships with consumers.
- Gopuff’s announcement that it is working with Iger comes as the convenience e-tailer looks to refocus its operations amid fierce competition in the instant needs space and a challenging fundraising environment for tech companies.
Dive Insight:
Gopuff indicated that it hopes Iger will be able to apply his experience leading Disney through a time of rapid technological change to help the retailer develop strategies to deepen its ties with shoppers.
The company did not provide specifics about the role Iger will play in the company, saying only that he will work with Gopuff’s leadership “to help deepen Gopuff’s consumer engagement and growth globally.”
“Gopuff is building a platform designed for the future of the consumer industry and nobody understands consumers better than Bob Iger,” Gopuff co-founder and co-CEO Yakir Gola said in a statement.
Iger, who became Disney’s CEO in 2005 and left the theme park, movie and television conglomerate at the end of 2021, suggested he was drawn to Gopuff because the company is trying to redefine how people make purchases. Iger led Disney through a number of major initiatives, including the launch in 2019 of its Disney+ streaming service.
“I believe consumer commerce will be very different in the near future and Gopuff is building the platform to power it,” Iger said in a statement.
Iger’s investment in Gopuff follows his decision to invest in and join the board of Genies, a Los Angeles company that helps people develop online personas, or avatars. Iger is also on the board of animal-free dairy product producer Perfect Day, which he invested in last September.
Gopuff has been dealing with powerful headwinds in its quest to maintain a leading position in the ultrafast delivery market. The company faces intense competition from well-capitalized e-commerce firms like DoorDash and Instacart, and is also contending with a rising number of supermarket chains that are adding high-speed delivery of convenience goods to their roster of services.
Gopuff, which serves customers in more than 1,200 cities in the United States, the United Kingdom and France, cut about 3% of its global workforce earlier this spring, including senior management positions.
Earlier this month, Gopuff launched an online pizza restaurant under its Gopuff Kitchen prepared food service, which began operations last summer.
