Federal Trade Commission to Continue Investigation of Corporate Ties Between Apple and Google
On August 3, 2009, Apple announced that Eric E. Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google, was stepping down from its board. "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," said Bureau of Competition Director Richard Feinstein. "We will continue to investigate remaining interlocking directorates between the companies."
As CNBC notes, former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson continues to serve on the Boards of Directors of both companies and former Vice-President Al Gore serves as both a director on Apple's Board and a "special advisor" to Google and Eric Schmidt.