When the F.T.C. investigation became known in May, Mr. Schmidt first dismissed suggestions that his role on Apple’s board posed a conflict. Then, at a conference in July, he said he would have to talk to Apple and reassess his role on the board.
In a statement on Monday, Mr. Schmidt said he had enjoyed his time on the Apple board, but that the companies “agreed it makes sense for me to step down now.”
Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management, said of the two boards, “These are brilliant people who were smart enough to rationally see what the rest of the world saw a while ago, in terms of the obvious and growing conflicts of interest.”
The F.T.C. is specifically looking into whether Google and Apple violated Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act, which says that companies with common board members must limit the sharing of information through those directors.
According to a person briefed on the investigation, Google is arguing that revenue from products like Chrome, which compete with Apple products, did not constitute more than 2 percent of its sales — one of the standards in the law. That argument is difficult to evaluate because Google gives away software like Chrome to drive more traffic to its money-making search engine.
One possible remedy is for Mr. Levinson to leave one of the two boards. The F.T.C. also might ask the companies to sign a consent decree saying that they will refrain from cooperating or sharing strategies in areas where they overlap.
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