Levinson resigns from Google board of directors
updated 11:35 am EDT, Mon October 12, 2009
May put an end to FTC investigation
Arthur Levinson has resigned from Google's board of directors, according to an official statement. The company is terse on details, noting only that Levinson has been with Google since April 2004, and that the resignation is immediate and amicable. "Art has been a key part of Google's success these past five years, offering unvarnished advice and vital counsel on every big issue and opportunity Google has faced," reads a quote from company CEO Eric Schmidt.
The resignation is however believed to be connected to an ongoing FTC investigation, exploring connections between the boards of Google and Apple. Until recently Levinson and Schmidt served on both boards, raising concerns of antitrust violations. The companies have been competing in similar markets in recent years, for instance producing their own phone platforms, as well as web browsers. Schmidt's resignation was tied to the unveiling of Chrome OS, Google's first operating system and a potential rival to Mac OS X.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2007
Missing something?
Is there some nuance I am missing here? (I am most assuredly not an attorney so there may well be). How would COMPETING in the market lead to anti-trust violations? Wouldn't collusion be required to make this an issue, for instances, two corporation working together to quash competition in a shared market in which they dominate (God knows there are people serving on multiple corporate boards and I'm sure there is often overlap in the markets served by those corporations). If Apple and Google are competing with each other in the market, I don't see the issue.