Yuga Labs, the parent company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, just named the former Activision Blizzard President and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Alegre as their new CEO. Alegre will take over as CEO in the first half of 2023.
Alegre has an impressive resume, having held leadership positions at global music and media company Bertelsmann and also 16 years as president of various divisions at Google. In 2020, he became president and COO of Activision Blizzard — the gaming company behind titles like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and others.
Alegre’s gaming experience is critical for Yuga Labs vision of creating their immersive Web3 world, interoperable, gamified metaverse The Otherside. Alegre said Web3 was an opportunity to “reinvent how content is used, transacted, and owned” around the world. He added that “ownership” and digital identity is the next frontier for the internet.
Alegre will be replacing Nicole Muniz, who became the Yuga Labs CEO in September of 2021. In her short time as CEO, Muniz helped the company acquire important NFT collections such as CryptoPunks and Meebits, as well as Beeple’s Web3 ecosystem WEKNEW. She will continue with the company as a strategic advisor and partner.
To make the move official, Alegre changed his profile picture (PFP) to Mutant Ape #3850.
Yuga Labs Keeps On Building
For folks who follow NFT news, the decision from Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, to invest in new leadership with decades of business and gaming experience should come as no surprise. Yuga Labs has quickly become a Web3 institution to reckon with, and one reason for its success is it’s not afraid to invest in itself and its community.
We’ve written several articles at Rarity Sniper this year about Yuga Labs building in the bear market. Here are some of the top headlines from the past six months:
- Yuga Labs Hires Christie’s Exec to Manage CryptoPunks
- Yuga Labs Grants IP Rights to CryptoPunks & Meebits
- Yuga Labs Hires Chief Gaming Officer for Otherside Metaverse
- Yuga Labs Reveals Ideology Behind Otherside Metaverse
- ApeCoin Holders Snag New Marketplace for Yuga Labs NFTs
Finding a top-talent like Daniel Alegre to take over as CEO is another big story for the Yuga Labs community, and for NFT holders of any of its collections. We’ll have to be patient to see what kind of changes and projects Alegre puts forward. But we imagine fans waiting for The Otherside metaverse won’t be disappointed that he’s the new man in charge.