Magic Leap’s new CEO has plans to jumpstart the company again. Here’s what she’s thinking
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If VC short sellers existed, virtual and augmented reality startup Magic Leap would have undoubtedly been one of the most popular targets.
It’s a recipe for scrutiny: Headquartered in Plantation, Fla., the company raised roughly $3.5 billion in funding from investors such as Alphabet—much of it before a product was available for sale. But when the company finally began selling its headset to the public in 2018, sales were intensely disappointing. It sought enterprise applications over consumers, tried to sell itself at a $10 billion price tag (there were no takers), and resorted to layoffs amid the pandemic. Then Rony Abovitz, the company’s founder and CEO, stepped down in May.
Now the company is seeking a turnaround under the helm of Peggy Johnson, former executive vice president of business development at Microsoft, who took over as CEO in August.
It’s hard to give Johnson a report card, with just a month or two on the job—but we have clues for the direction she is thinking to take the company in. Johnson, who was one of Satya Nadella’s first big hires at Microsoft as CEO, is expected to focus on building business partnerships, bringing in her contacts from her old job as well. Already, Magic Leap is reportedly talking to Amazon about somehow packaging its headset with Amazon’s cloud services.
She added more color on Thursday, during her first interview since taking over the position, at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit. Per my colleague Lydia Belanger:
“What I’m focused on is ensuring we’re picking the right areas of enterprise to focus on,” she said, citing training, remote assist, and 3D visualization as the three primary use cases the company is zeroing in on. Given the rise of remote work owing to the COVID pandemic, Johnson says she sees promise for teams to meet virtually and review product designs.
For another example, far-flung diagnostics professionals may be able to help fix machinery: If a person on a factory floor is wearing a headset mounted with a camera and a screen, a remote worker can circle components and identify problems.
If Johnson can execute a comeback story—that’s always a good one.
GAMEAPALOOZA: Gaming has taken off during the pandemic, whether in video games or gamified platforms. Online gaming platform Roblox is now working with investment banks to potentially IPO or go public via direct listing in a move that could double its recent $4 billion valuation, Reuters reports citing sources. Read more.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
