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Google CEO Eric Schmidt to Discuss Role on Apple's Board in Wake of Chrome OS Announcement

Friday July 10, 2009 6:02 am PDT by Eric Slivka
Reuters reports that Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who has served on Apple's Board of Directors since 2006, will discuss with Apple how his role on the board may change in the wake of increasing overlap between the two companies' markets. The report comes just one day after Google announced that it will be entering the operating system market with Chrome OS, initially targeted at netbook computers.

Because Google's new Chrome OS would compete with Apple's own computer software, Schmidt said on Thursday he would talk to the Mac computer maker about whether he should recuse himself from Apple's board.

"I'll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there's no issue," Schmidt told reporters at a Sun Valley media and technology conference organized by boutique investment bank Allen & Co.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission last month reportedly began taking an interest in the two companies' ties for potential antitrust reasons, as both Schmidt and Arthur Levinson, former CEO of biotech firm Genentech, are directors of both Apple and Google.

With Google's release of its Android operating system for mobile phones, Schmidt has recused himself from discussions regarding the iPhone at Apple board meetings, and it now appears that the operating system overlap between the two companies may necessitate further restrictions on Schmidt's participation with Apple, if not an outright resignation if potential solutions are deemed unworkable.

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