Google (GOOG) CEO Will Discuss His Apple (AAPL) Board Role
In light of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) announcing that it will soon launch an operating system, CEO Eric Schmidt said he will discuss with Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) how his role on its board may change.
Because Google's new Chrome OS would likely compete with Apple's own software, Schmidt said at the Sun Valley conference that he'd talk to Apple about whether he should recuse himself from Apple's board.
"I'll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there's no issue", said Schmidt.
Currently, the U.S. FTC is looking into whether the ties between the boards violate antitrust laws. Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson are directors of both companies. Under federal antitrust law, a person is not allowed to sit on the board of two companies if it stifles competition between them.
Because of the above fact, Schmidt began recusing himself from Apple board meetings where the iPhone was discussed after Google launched its own Android mobile phone OS. Google's Chrome OS would compete directly with Apple's OS X platform which would likely cause Schmidt to again recuse himself when the board is talking about Apple's operating system.
However, in response, Schmidt said Chrome worked with Apple's Safari browser. "There's a very large collaboration with respect to Chrome and Safari," he said.
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