Disney CEO, Robert Iger, resigns from Apple's board of directors

Mr. Iger, who has been running Disney as CEO since 2005, joined Apple's board of directors in 2012 and was chairman of the nominating committee and member of the compensation committee. He had a close relationship with the co-founder of Apple

Steve Jobs,

born from the 2006 sale of Pixar Animation Studios to Disney. Mr. Jobs was the president of Pixar.

The resignation came the day Apple Chief Executive

Tim Cook

announced a monthly price of $ 4.99 for its streaming service, Apple TV +, and announced that it would be available on November 1 st. The price compromises Disney's plan to charge $ 6.99 for its Disney + service, also in November.

The filing of Apple did not motivate the departure of Mr. Iger. In a statement, the company calls it "a visionary and dedicated CEO, a model for a generation of leaders."

"While we will miss his contributions as a board member, we respect his decision and hope that our relationship with Bob and Disney will continue into the future," said Apple in a statement.

Mr. Iger said in a statement that his presence on Apple's board of directors was an "extraordinary privilege". He added: "I have the utmost respect for Tim Cook, his team at Apple and the other board members," and said why he resigned.

Apple's price for TV + was widely seen as an attempt to catch up with established media competitors, including Disney and Netflix Inc., in intensifying the wars of streaming and offsetting its smaller programming library. Apple plans to launch TV + with a handful of original shows, including "The Morning Show," a drama series on a morning newscast that features

Reese Witherspoon

and Jennifer Aniston. The tech giant will also try to leverage its existing large customer base with more than 1.4 billion devices in use around the world.

The plans of both companies to launch competing subscription video services have made it difficult for Mr. Iger to stay on Apple's board of directors, according to a person familiar with Mr. Iger's thinking. . "Apple has a bigger role in the media landscape," said this person. "He came to the conclusion that a growing number of issues would be raised before the board, which would limit his ability to fully engage and participate as a board member."

Apple TV + represents a much smaller share of the technology giant's overall portfolio. Staying on the Apple board could have at least sounded like a conflict of interest, no matter how much time the board spent on the subject.

In April, Iger told Bloomberg Television that he was "in constant dialogue to make sure I do not do anything" that would go against "what is wrong?" a member of Apple's board of directors would do ". He added that Apple's streaming activity was "nascent". and "relatively small", so that was not much discussed at that time.

Mr. Iger has repeatedly described Disney + as a central element of his company's future, as consumers forego cable TV packages for the benefit of bundles of streaming services of their own creation. The company's $ 71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets focused on bringing content together to make Disney + a viable competitor of Netflix and

Amazon.com
Inc.

First video service.

Disney's $ 6.99 per month streaming service is significantly lower than Netflix, which costs $ 12.99 per month for its standard option. Disney plans to offer Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel movie titles, as well as a series of original and "The Simpsons" series, as well as other series and movies purchased as part of the Fox Transaction earlier this year.

Write to Tripp Mickle at [email protected] and Ethan Smith at [email protected]