Disney CEO Bob Iger and Apple CEO Steve Jobs worked closely together. Iger this week resigned from Apple’s plank since the two companies gear up to compete in streaming video.
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Disney CEO Bob Iger has resigned from Apple’s plank since the two businesses prepare to compete using their streaming services.
In a regulatory filing Friday, Apple stated Iger resigned out of the eight-person board on Sept. 10. The firm in a statement lauded Iger’s period as a “exemplary board member” and called him a “dedicated, visionary CEO.”
“More than anything, Bob is our friend,” Apple said. “He leads with his heart, and he has always been generous with his time and advice. While we will greatly miss his contributions as a board member, we respect his decision, and we have every expectation that our relationship with both Bob and Disney will continue far into the future.”
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Tim Cook shows launch date and cost to get Apple TV Plus
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Apple’s Apple TV Plus service will probably cost $5 per month once it becomes available Nov. 1, while Disney’s brand new Disney Plus streaming agency will establish Nov. 12 for $7 per month.
Both services combine a competitive entertainment arena dominated by Netflix. For Apple, the streaming support a part of its drive to extend beyond the iPhone. The firm still makes all its cash from its favorite smartphonebut it is relying on providers such as Apple TV Plus and Arcade to keep customers locked in to its ecosystem — and giving it a more normal monthly fee rather than an occasional iPhone buy.
Iger, a longtime Disney executive, combined Apple’s plank in 2011, a month later Steve Jobs died. The two have to know each other while Jobs functioned on Disney’s board after its purchase of Pixar Animation Studios in 2006. Before Jobs expired, he asked Iger to take his place on the Apple board if he had been gone.
Iger in April stated he would resign from Apple’s board if the two started competing more. At the time, he didn’t believe it was a problem.
“When the business of direct to consumer television or movies is discussed on the Apple board, I recuse myself those discussions,” Iger said during an interview with CNBC. “There aren’t many of them, they’re still a very small business to Apple. And I’m not at that point where I think it’s problematic, but it’s something that I need to continue to monitor.”
The Techy Trends’s Joan Solsman and Ian Sherr contributed to the report.
Watch that this:
Tim Cook shows launch date and cost to get Apple TV Plus
1:14
