FTC Will Continue Investigating Google-Apple Relationship
August 03 2009 - 4:24PM
Dow Jones News
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Monday that despite
Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Chief Executive Eric Schmidt's resignation
from the board of Apple Inc. (AAPL), it will continue investigating
the companies' relationship.
"We have been investigating the Google, Apple interlocking
directorates issue for some time and commend them for recognizing
that sharing directors raises competitive issues, as Google and
Apple increasingly compete with each other," FTC Bureau of
Competition Director Richard Feinstein said in a statement.
Schmidt resigned Monday from the board of Apple due to potential
conflicts of interest.
The FTC has been investigating for months whether Schmidt's
membership on the Apple board amounts to a violation of antitrust
laws.
Schmidt has been an Apple board director since August 2006 and
the two companies have partnered on myriad products. Apple, for
example, uses Google Maps in its iPhone as its mapping software.
Additionally, Google has said it was developing a
computer-operating system that would bring it into competition with
Apple.
The boards share another member: Art Levinson, the former chief
executive of Genentech.
-By Darrell A. Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6684;
darrell.hughes@dowjones.com