On Wednesday, Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) lost its legal effort to prevent longtime executive Justin Connolly from leaving the company to join YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google.
What Happened: Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant denied Disney's request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order, which aimed to stop Connolly from transitioning to YouTube, reported Reuters.
Disney had filed a lawsuit last month, claiming Connolly's departure breached his contract and could lead to unfair competition. The company sought to block his new role at YouTube.
"We are disappointed in today’s ruling, but will continue to pursue our legal remedies," a Disney spokesperson told the publication.
Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.
YouTube did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.
Why It's Important: Connolly, who spent more than 20 years at ESPN and Disney, stepped down last month from his role as head of platform distribution.
Previously, Reuters cited sources familiar with the matter stating that Connolly will manage partnerships with major media companies and spearhead the expansion of YouTube’s live sports offerings.
Price Movement: On Wednesday, Alphabet Inc.’s Class A shares rose by 1.13%, while Class C shares were up 1%. In contrast, Disney’s stock dipped by 0.097%, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings highlight Disney’s strong price momentum across short, medium and long-term periods. Additional detailed metrics can be found here.
Photo Courtesy: Bankrx on Shutterstock.com
Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.
Read Next:
- Mark Zuckerberg Warns Of ';Serious Disadvantage' As China's Data-Center Blitz Could Let DeepSeek Leapfrog US AI Labs
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
