The Disney CEO left Apple’s Board on September 10th, the same day Apple unveiled details on its forthcoming Apple TV+ streaming service.
Alex Weprin for The Hollywood Reporter:
“I have the utmost respect for Tim Cook, his team at Apple and for my fellow board members,” he said in the statement. “Apple is one of the world’s most admired companies, known for the quality and integrity of its products and its people, and I am forever grateful to have served as a member of the company’s board.”
Apple, in a statement, praised Iger while adding that the company expects to continue to have a relationship with Disney.
“Bob has been an exemplary board member for nearly eight years, and for as long as he has led Disney he has been one of Apple’s most trusted business partners,” Apple’s statement said. “He is a dedicated, visionary CEO and a role model for an entire generation of business leaders. More than anything, Bob is our friend. 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.”
Iger leaves Apple’s board as the technology company becomes a more direct competitor to Disney.
MacDailyNews Take: Inevitable.
Recusal works up to a point, but we’re inching closer to that point with Bob Iger on Apple’s BoD. — MacDailyNews, May 31, 2019
Good riddance to the man who over-watched the destruction of Star Wars. May he leave Disney next, and take that old witch Kathleen Kennedy with him.
Disney’s streaming service will be wildly successful, as they own much of the most popular content and franchises (past and present). It will be interesting to see if Apple’s offerings can draw faithful subscribers, after the free trial. I would love to see Apple land a major coup – for example, if they could convince J K Rowlings to work with them to bring The Cursed Child (her play) to the small screen as a movie. I doubt that JKR would be interested in a long-term (exhausting) commitment to authoring or producing a Harry Potter universe series (though it would be great). She has expressed that she likes writing screenplays more than books, as they are easier and take less time to write. She is tied up with the Grindewald series for the next several years, but as she has already written The Cursed Child as a stage play, it would be (relatively) easier to move to a screenplay. Getting Harry Potter, Hermione and other beloved characters on Apple TV+ would draw a lot of subscribers (at least for the short term).
Yes please leave before he does an “Eric Schmidt” aka Dishonest John.