Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey exit Disney board to avoid conflict of interest

The Walt Disney Company has confirmed the impending departure of Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey from its board. Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook while Dorsey is the co-founder and CEO of Twitter. According to Bloomberg, the move comes as both parties are reportedly finding it “increasingly difficult” to avoid conflicts related to board members.As such, both parties would not be running for re-election at the company’s annual meeting held in March. The move follows Disney’s continued push into TV shows and movie content, its most recent move being the takeover attempt of 21st Century Fox. The Bloomberg report added that over the years, both social networks have also gained the rights to stream live sporting events – seen as a solid area of focus for Disney and ESPN.Marketing has reached out to The Walt Disney Company for comment.In Asia Pacific alone, Twitter in the past year has struck over 35 video content partnerships for the region. The partnerships included extensions of existing global live deals in a bid to bolster its premium video offering for advertisers, bringing video and live original programming, games and events to the platform. Meanwhile in 2016, Facebook signed contracts with nearly 140 media companies and celebrities globally to create video content for its live-streaming service.Sandberg and Dorsey’s exit will also be accompanied by the board departures of Orin Smith, former Starbucks CEO, and Robert Matschullat, private equity investor, due to age and term limits for Disney board members.Closer to home, the Walt Disney Company recently promoted Amit Malhotra as its country head for Singapore and Malaysia. Malhotra was tasked with all of Disney’s businesses in the two countries. In addition to his new role, Malhotra also continued to oversee the operations of the linear television business and local content production for Southeast Asia.