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Apple joins Bluetooth SIG board of directors
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has announced that Apple and semiconductor firm Nordic have both joined the board of directors. Apple is an obvious choice; not only is the company now at the lead of the mobile device industry, but it's also been very faithful to the standard, including Bluetooth in all of the eleventy billion iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches out there these days. [Well, other than the first-gen iPod touch anyway. --Ed] Bluetooth says the confirmation to the board will help push a world of Bluetooth connections between mobile devices forward, bringing together "mobile phones, laptops, tablets, TVs, homes, and even cars [to] soon serve as hub devices to capture data from hundreds of millions of small sensors." That's an ambitious vision, to say the least, but that's what Apple is supposed to help out with while serving on the board.
Controlling share in Bigpoint purchased for $350 million
The prolific MMO developer Bigpoint is answering to couple of new bosses today. According to Gamasutra, Summit Partners and TA Associates have banded together to heavily invest in the company -- and by doing so, to take a controlling share in Bigpoint. The two firms, which are now on the board of directors, have jointly invested $350 million into Bigpoint. These funds will recapitalize the studio and expand its presence worldwide. Bigpoint founder and CEO Heiko Hubertz, who controls 30 percent of the company, appears optimistic: "The investment by TA Associates and Summit Partners is a validation of Bigpoint's leadership position within the gaming industry, and will give us a huge boost toward becoming one of the most successful gaming companies worldwide." Bigpoint has a wide portfolio of titles including Battlestar Galactica Online, DarkOrbit, and the upcoming Drakensang Online.
DreamWorks' Jeff Katzenberg joins Zynga board of directors
DreamWorks CEO Jeff Katzenberg is expanding his portfolio beyond touching our hearts with endearing movies about pandas and ogres to touching our Facebook profiles with invites to games about agriculture. The animated film studio co-founder is now also the sixth member of Zynga's board of directors -- which, according to a blog post by Zynga chief Mark Pincus, came about "after he suggested that the blockbuster of 2011 could be ShrekVille." We've read that statement probably about 20 times now, and we're still not sure whether or not it's a joke. Like, it seems like a joke -- we're no strangers to the phony baloney portmanteau -- but we're receptive to the fact that a thing called ShrekVille would probably make a berzillion dollars.
Ron Sugar wins board member popularity contest
OK, weekend pop quiz! Quick, who's the most popular member of the Apple board with shareholders? Head-scratching allowed, coffee may be taken, think hard, no taking peeks at the illustration or headline here...Well, if you answered 'Steve Jobs', you're probably human. And if you're an anonymous financial institution you answered 'Ronald Sugar.' Since anonymous financial institutions outweigh humans more than two-to-one when it comes to owning Apple shares, the most popular Apple director is, as reported by Fortune's Apple 2.0, Ronald Sugar. The former CEO of aerospace company Northrop Grumman joined Apple in November to replace Jerry York, who died last March and Google's Eric Schmidt, who left in 2009. As you can see from the table taken from the SEC form 8-K filed last Thursday, Steve Jobs was re-elected to the board of Apple with nearly 3.5 million votes less than were cast for Ronald Sugar -- and that, as before, Andrea Jung was the least popular board member. We probably shouldn't read too much into the voting -- 70% of Apple shares are held by financial institutions, and 4.8 million votes were cast against re-electing Steve Jobs to the board at all. chart courtesy of Apple 2.0/Fortune
EA gets a board member from Ford, you get a virtual car
EA has picked up Luis Ubiñas to sit on its board of directors. Ubiñas is president of the Ford Foundation, which gives grants and starts projects all over the world. Previously, he worked at a consulting firm called McKinsey & Company, where he specialized in working with media and wireless technology companies. In what is probably a complete coincidence, players of The Sims 3 are all getting Ford Fiestas for free. The virtual kind, that is -- you can head over to the Sims website right now to pick up a downloadable pack which includes a Fiesta hatchback or sedan for your Sims' garage, and a bevy of other brand-related virtual items to use and play with. That news probably has nothing at all to do with Ubiñas' new or old job titles, but we figured we'd let you know anyway.
Sprint execs leave Clearwire board out of an 'abundance of caution'
Well, it looks like Sprint and Clearwire aren't taking any chances when it comes to some of the new antitrust rules now in place. Clearwire has just announced that the three Sprint executives now on its board will be resigning out of an "abundance of caution" -- that includes Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, along with division presidents Keith O. Cowan and Steven L. Elfman. Not many more details than that at the moment, but Sprint does still hang onto the right to appoint members to the Clearwire board, and the four Sprint appointees currently on the board will remain in place. As The Wall Street Journal notes, however, the move would seem to clear the way for Clearwire to potentially make another deal, although no one involved is saying anything publicly at the moment beyond what's in the brief press release after the break.
Activision Publishing CEO resigns, remains Vice Chairman of Activision Blizzard
We know, we know -- you read that headline too quickly and immediately went into shock, worried that the value of your mint Topps 2007 Bobby Kotick Game Industry Executive collectible card just plummeted. Relax, folks, we're talking about the Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith, known best for lending his dulcet tones and vision for the future to quarterly investor calls (we'll miss him so!). According to a report at Edge Online, Griffith will be keeping his position at Activision Blizzard on the board of directors, where he currently serves as vice chairman. In so many words, rather than talking about games that aren't out yet on the phone with investors, he'll be spending more time doing so in private. Oh, and he'll be working on "key initiatives and projects" to the tune of $250K each year. [Update: See the Activision SEC filing.]
A look at Apple's board
The Wall Street Journal has posted an inside view on Apple's board of directors in the wake of Jerome York's death, and the image they paint is one of a tiny group of people that's strongly loyal to Jobs himself. The group of six people is the smallest board at a Fortune 500 company, and they're all basically handpicked by Jobs, who cleaned house after his return to Apple in the late '90s. He kept only two members back then whom he could trust, and has since only brought on people who will follow his direction. Not that board members aren't consulted -- York was apparently an expert at auditing and governance, and reigned in those areas. But when Jobs wanted his way, board members stayed quiet or got out -- York told the Wall Street Journal last year that he was "disgusted" by the way the company had handled the reports on Jobs' health and that he even wished he'd left the company over his disagreement. But such is Jobs' hold on the board that even York stayed quiet. And that's not likely to change in the future. While Apple's rules require them to fill the vacancy that York left, word is that it's unlikely that they'll add too much new blood to the mix. The last time a seat was vacated, when Google's Eric Schmidt left the board, they simply decided they had enough directors and moved on. While COO Tim Cook is rumored to be the best option to fill the spot, the company likely won't make a move unless Jobs says so. [via 9to5Mac]
Levinson resigns from Google, Apple ties broken
It's the end of an era for the relationship between Google and Apple -- Google has announced that Dr. Arthur Levinson has resigned from its board of directors, meaning that the last common member between the boards of the two companies has now "chosen a side," so to speak. I doubt it was that serious, but you never know: the Department of Justice had announced that they were looking into the connections between the two boards, with both former Apple boardmember and Google CEO Eric Schimidt being one link, and Levinson being the other. Not that the DoJ was really breathing down any necks (they'd only requested documents, and there were no signs at all, other than, you know, Google Maps being an original iPhone application, that there was any collusion between the two companies). But it is possible that between them, they decided to play it safe, and with the two companies getting closer and closer to competition every day (with Google's Android OS and the continuing saga of Chrome going on), this is probably for the better. Levinson and Schmidt, meanwhile, will both still continue to make millions of dollars anyway. So they have that going for them. Which is nice.
Arthur Levinson departs Google board amid FTC probe
We kind of doubt the departure of Genentech's former chief executive from Google's board of directors will close all of this out in the FTC's eyes, but if you were curious about the impact of said probe, here's your answer. Just two months after Google's Eric Schmidt peaced out from Apple's board due to a "conflict of interest," Arthur Levinson has left Google's board for presumably the same reason. Schmidt is still obviously fond of Sir Levinson, noting that he has "has been a key part of Google's success these past five years," and while he's exiting the board, he'll "always have a special place at Google." So, now that all of this is cleared up, can we finally move on without worrying that the aforementioned search giant will buy up the world's remaining inventory of dark fiber, fuse into Apple and create a telepathic iPod that would rule the world until the dawn of the Robot Apocalypse?[Via New York Times]
Motorola quietly takes one step away from LiMo, looks to Android for consolation
Man, remember LiMo? Amazingly, there are some 40 handsets on the market today based on the platform, but precisely none of them are boasting a profile as high as any one of the Android smartphones also on store shelves. As Motorola scrambles to re-make itself and prove that its CLIQ is a force to be reckoned with in the burgeoning Android phone sector, the company has also decided to remove itself as a "founding member" of the LiMo Foundation. The company recently noted that the outfit was sliding down to "associate member," stating that "at this time it feels that the Android platform gives it a richer, more consistent foundation with strong support for the ecosystem and developer community." That's a pretty damning statement to our ears, but we won't go so far as to call the breakup between Moto and LiMo official; we're guessing "it's complicated" would be entirely more appropriate here.[Via phonescoop]
CNBC: Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple's board
CNBC has reported this morning that Google CEO Eric Schmidt, right, has resigned from Apple's board of directors after three years. This comes a week after Apple pulled GV Mobile and Voice Central from the App Store and rejected Google's own Google Voice app, along with the uproar and FCC letters that followed. In a press release, Steve Jobs said the following: "Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple's Board." Do you think Schmidt stepping down had anything to do with the events of last week? Or, like our own Sang Tang suggested three weeks ago, was this a predictable consequence of Google's move into the OS space with Chrome and continuing competition between iPhone and Android? Let us know in the comments!
Lessons from Marcia Brady: why Eric Schmidt should resign from Apple's board
One of my favorite episodes of The Brady Bunch is "Quarterback Sneak." In it, Marcia starts dating Jerry Rogers, quarterback of the Fairview High School football team. Problem is, Fairview happens to be the rival of Marcia & Greg's Westdale High School, and the two teams are scheduled to play in their annual big game on Saturday.Marcia may not see it (Marcia, Marcia, Marcia never seems to), but it's fairly apparent that Jerry Rogers isn't as concerned about winning Marcia's heart as he is about winning the big game against Westdale.But Marcia has to find this out the hard way, as she always does. The story unfolds in an oh-so-predictable sitcom television manner:Marcia invites Jerry in for a drink of lemonade.While Marcia is preparing the lemonade, Jerry snoops around and takes a look at the Westdale playbook, which happens to be on the coffee table.Bobby, who just got flattened by the teeter totter outside, sees that Jerry is up to no good. Marcia sees none of this. She's too busy preparing lemonade.Bobby and Greg confront Marcia about Jerry's evil, no good do-er ways; Marcia, being Marcia, is obviously in a state of denial and dares Bobby and Greg to prove her wrong. And they did.On their next lemonade date, Marcia sees that Jerry, indeed, could not resist swiping the Westdale playbook. Needless to say, Marcia's crushed.With Google announcing its intention to develop the Chrome OS, Apple has a Jerry Rogers-like situation right now with Google CEO Eric Schmidt sitting on its board of directors. Although Schmidt says there's "no issue" at the moment, the best situation for both parties would be one in which Schmidt relieved himself of his duties on Apple's board of directors.
Google's ads and apps exec joins EA board
Google SVP of Engineering Jeff Huber has been appointed to EA's board of directors. Huber leads tech development and innovation for the Google empire's vast advertising systems, along with Google Apps. He's a very interesting character to show up on EA's board. As with many board appointments, this could be nothing but a title, or it could signal something more, um, expansive. We certainly took note two years ago when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joined the board of Microsoft. Although the implications of Huber's appointment aren't as clear, he's not your typical investor-related appointment -- or is he?
Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, joins Apple's Board
Perhaps that Google iPod wrap was a hint; Apple just announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, was elected to Apple's Board of Directors at today's Board of Directors meeting. Steve Jobs was quoted as saying, "Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric's insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead."Google and Apple sitting in a tree? Well, probably not, but if I were in upper management at a certain Redmond based company I would take note of this development.You can look at the membership of Apple's Board of Directors here.
EA gobbles up the rest of Battlefield developer DICE
According to GamesIndustry.biz, "DICE's board of directors has unanimously agreed on a joint merger plan" with Battlefield publisher EA.If all goes well, Digital Illusions CE will become fully owned by the largest 3rd-party publisher in the world when stockholders meet and vote on the measure May 24th. EA already owns two-thirds of the company's shares.Like any large company, EA has bought smaller competitors like Criterion and important industry players like Jamdat to buy its way into new markets and franchises, so this is nothing new. We simply wish DICE the best in the future (with hopefully few future layoffs because of this deal).
