YouTube's poaching of Disney executives leads to lawsuit
Disney has filed a lawsuit against YouTube and Justin Connolly over the company's poaching of longtime Disney executive Justin Connolly, who had signed a contract to work for Disney until 2027 but left the company before that deadline.
Disney vs. YouTube (Justin Connolly) | DocumentCloud
YouTube Poaches Disney Official, Triggering Lawsuit Against Video Service - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-22/youtube-poaches-disney-official-to-oversee-global-media-sports
YouTube's Poaching of Disney Exec Justin Connolly Sparks Lawsuit
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-sues-youtube-over-poaching-exec-ahead-of-licensing-renewal-deals-1236228112/
Disney Sues YouTube Over Justin Connolly Hiring
https://www.thewrap.com/disney-platform-distribution-president-justin-connolly-exit-youtube/
In November 2024, Connolly, a Disney veteran of more than 20 years, signed a new three-year contract with Disney, committing him to remain with the company until the end of 2027. Under the terms of the contract, Connolly was prohibited from doing business with a competitor.
However, YouTube is said to have knowingly violated the terms of the contract and poached Connolly. Connolly will
The problem is that Connolly may have had a conflict of interest.
At the time of his departure, Disney was in the midst of preparing to launch several products and renegotiating its largest streaming deal ever, in which he led the team negotiating licenses with YouTube.
'If Connolly, who knows the negotiations between Disney and YouTube better than anyone else, were to move to YouTube and also serve as an outside negotiator, it could cause inconvenience to Disney in the negotiations and unnecessarily harm its interests,' the company said.
As a result, Disney filed a lawsuit against YouTube and Connolly for breach of contract, interference with contractual relations, and unfair competition.
'Mr. Connolly has in-depth knowledge of Disney's distribution agreements, financial situation and negotiating strategies,' Disney lawyer Kevin Gault said in a statement. 'It would be extremely detrimental to Disney to lose Mr. Connolly to YouTube during Disney's ongoing negotiations.'
Disney is seeking an injunction to stop YouTube from hiring Connolly, alleging that he could leak Disney trade secrets.
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