Disney-Pixar may create conflicts for Jobs

In the second day of a pre-scheduled two-day session, Disney's Board of Directors are contemplating several different partnership scenarios with Pixar--including a full buyout of Pixar, which could create a conflict of interest in certain situations for Apple CEO Steve Jobs. A new Wall Street Journal report discusses some of the potential conflicts--for both Disney and Apple--with Apple's CEO Disney's Board, which is rumored to be part of most Disney-Pixar scenarios. "People close to the Pixar-Disney talks acknowledge that board-level discussions about Disney's navigation of the digital world would clearly create conflict at times for Mr. Jobs and that he will be expected to recuse himself from sensitive meetings. Some deals, such as Disney's move to sell television shows through iTunes are dealt with at a business-unit level, and don't require board approval, so Mr. Jobs might never have oversight of such decisions." [subscription required]

The report says that more strategic Disney moves with Apple competitors such as Microsoft or Hewlett-Packard, could create conflict and require Jobs to take himself out of the mix and that Apple's Board also may "need to take the same steps as their Disney counterparts to ensure that Mr. Jobs recuses himself from board discussions and votes that could favor Disney content, at the possible expense of other content."

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