Robert Iger (known as Bob Iger), current CEO of Disney, has been on Apple's board of directors since 2011. This is quite common for executives of this caliber: Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), for example, is on Nike's board of directors, while Eddy Cue (vice-president) senior president of Apple's Internet software and services) on the board of Ferrari.
And what does a board of directors do? These are people (elected or appointed) who oversee the activities of an organization and, in a way, help develop strategies by directing the company. But Iger's chair is now threatened. Not because he did something that displeased Apple's shareholders or because he didn't want to be on the board anymore. The deepest problem.
As we all know, Apple will soon be launching a streaming of video to call your own. And the problem is exactly that, since Disney is also launching one. That is, companies will become staunch competitors in an ever-growing market, and it makes little sense for the CEO of one of these companies to serve on the board of the other, as strategies and many other relevant things are discussed at these board meetings.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has signed several agreements with Disney (including digital services content licensing agreements). Still, Iger would not have “a direct or indirect material interest” in these transactions.
"They may have to recognize that they will become active competitors in the near future," said John Coffee, director of the Columbia Law School Corporate Governance Center. He suspects that both companies have legal advisors investigating whether or not Iger should remain on Apple's board of directors.
If Iger had to leave Apple's board, the episode would not be the first in the company's history. After the launch of the iPhone and Google's entry into the Android smartphone market, Eric Schmidt's (until then CEO's) position on the board became quite complicated as he could no longer attend all board meetings by account of potential conflicts of interest culminating in the departure of the executive in 2009.
We'll see what happens this time.
via 9to5Mac
