Google CEO Has Not Considered Position Change

As a follow-up to my previous post which documented a report by The New York Times claiming that an investigation had begun into a potential violation of anti-trust laws by Google and Apple Inc, it has now emerged that CEO of Google, Dr. E. Schmidt, has said that resigning from either Google’s or Apple’s managing teams had “not crossed his mind”.

Google has made statements and given interviews to a variety of journalist and news agencies. Dr. Schmidt claimed that he doesn’t “think Google sees Apple as a primary competitor”. However, as I posted earlier, because Schmidt is on the senior management team of both major companies, it could lead to a reduction in competitiveness in the market. However, the legal team at Google have also claimed that they do not see how Schmidt’s position in the two companies is causing a conflict of interest.

Dr. Schmidt claims that whenever the discussion in an Apple boardroom turns to that of the well-acclaimed iPhone, he leaves the room. Kent Walker, from the legal team of Google, said that “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 positon”. However, Google says that it is in “discussion” with The Federal Trade Comission.

One expert, Brandon Reese, strongly disagreed with Google claiming that the search giant does not want to become an “anti-trust devil” like “Microsoft did”. He said that there was “nothing to gain and a lot to lose” and therefore Dr. Schmidt should resign from Apple’s management. Schmidt has however said that he will not be making any further comment on the topic, but he insists that his employment on the boards of both companies is “legal and proper.”

I am not ready to bring my views to light. Dr. Schmidt claims that he leaves the boardroom when discussion turns to that of the iPhone. In my opinion, public reaction to the iPhone was much better to that of the G1, and there are certainly more users of the former - so the competition does not seem as great as first expected. If Schmidt is not present when meetings connect with something that is competes with that of Google, then it should be permissable for him to remain on the comapny. I can however, relate to the upset of a number of experts on the basis that Google is quite a well trusted company and has been reliable to its users but in recent months has ran into an entire mass of problems, issues and lawsuits and that Schmidt should resign to avoid an ultimate lack of trust with a company that at first everybody seemed to love.