Google boss won't sever Apple ties

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 8 May 2009 at 08:35

Google boss Eric Schmidt says he will not quit the Apple board, despite the scrutiny of US competition watchdogs.

Earlier this week, the US Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into whether the ties between the boards of Apple and Google violate antitrust laws.

Eric Schmidt and former Genentech chief executive Arthur Levinson sit on both boards. Under federal antitrust law, a person is not allowed to sit on the board of two companies if it may decrease competition between them.

Speaking ahead of a shareholder's meeting, Schmidt claimed there's no need for him to quit the Apple board because when attending meetings "if there are issues on competitiveness, I recuse myself," before somewhat contradictorily stating that "I don't think Google sees Apple as a primary competitor."

Google's legal team backed up its boss's stance: "The law is clear that there is a safe harbour under the Clayton Act for companies that don't have overlapping revenue in different areas, and we're comfortable with that position," said legal counsel Kent Walker.

Not everybody was happy with Schmidt's stance however. Brandon Rees, a spokesperson for the labour union AFL-CIO, which is a Google shareholder, called for Schmidt to stand down from Apple's board to avoid further Government scrutiny.

"There is nothing to gain and a lot to lose," he told the chief executive. "We don't want Google to become an antitrust devil like Microsoft did," said Reese.