Apple’s hire of Disney+ video executive creates questions about Disney CEO Bob Iger remaining on Apple’s Board

“Apple Inc. has hired a former executive from Walt Disney Co.’s startup streaming service to beef up management of the global video service it will launch later this year, a sign of the growing competition for talent between tech and media,” Anousha Sakoui and Mark Gurman report for Bloomberg. “Chiara Cipriani started with Apple as a director of video services earlier this month in London, according to her LinkedIn bio, after about a decade at Disney. She previously was an executive working on the new Disney+ service and had managed DisneyLife, its international predecessor.”
“The decision to hire a Disney executive in a competing job is particularly interesting because Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive officer, sits on Apple’s board,” Sakoui and Gurman report. “Up to now, he’s maintained that the iPhone maker’s video business is too small to relinquish that role and has recused himself from some matters.”
“Apple’s hiring suggests that the company is building up the international operations for its Apple TV+ streaming service,” Sakoui and Gurman report. “The company has hired a number of creative executives from British broadcasters, as well as talent from Amazon and Netflix.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Recusal works up to a point, but we’re inching closer to that point with Bob Iger on Apple’s BoD.
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