The poaching of companies is never doing well with Disney and even less when they lose a key frame like Justin Connolly to tastes of always dominant YouTube. This means that after 20 years at the Walt Disney Company at various titles, and an original employment contract in 2024, the alleged Connolly for life now finds its sudden transmission on the platform for social sharing and online video belonging to Google a little more jumped than expected.
Make this preliminary injunction and perhaps a permanent jumper injunction.
In a short but net contract of contract contract on Wednesday at the Superior Court of the exit, the mouse chamber wishes the courts prevent their president of the Disney platform recently deceased from being able to start its newly created concert as the world’s media and sports leader in Youtube. Like never starting.
Throwing any sentimentality aside, whatever the loyal service of Connolly, and remembering that there is a reason for which they call it business and do not show friends, Disney insignoms that the contractual rules are not here.
“In April 2025, Disney became aware of the job offer from YouTube to Connolly,” said the continuation against the executive and the video platform filed by the truck law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp on May 21 in DTLA. On November 6 of last year, Connolly signed a new contract scheduled for January 1, 2025 and presented on December 31, 2027.
It all changed last week.
“This news occurred at a critical time of Connolly’s mandate as president of the Disney platform distribution. Disney is in the midst of several launches of important products and renegotiation of some of its main distribution agreements, and Connolly was the architect of the Disney distribution strategy and its main negotiator,” said Disney in the case of the contract, an action in the Tortive Interference and action Defined. “In a critical way, Connolly directs the Disney team to negotiate a license renewal with Youtube. Connolly has an intimate knowledge of the other Disney distribution agreements, the financial details concerning the content of Disney being authorized to YouTube, and the negotiation strategies of Disney, both in general and in particular with the respect of Youtube. ”
Or to put it in the most austere terms of the Magic Kingdom: “It would be extremely detrimental to Disney for Connolly to break the contract he negotiated a few months ago and change teams when Disney works on a new license agreement with the company that tries to poach it.”
Disney / Getty images
Disney and YouTube refused to comment on the trial when they are contacted by deadline today.
In this game of executive chairs, Connolly left her Disney Post after two decades last Friday, as is the company, because it clearly shows it in its BOC costume, approached a consecutive series of negotiations. Connolly was to have played a central role in talks with distribution partners for the next autonomous streamer of ESPN and, ironically, discussions on the renewal of transport with YouTube TV. The current company agreement later expires this year.
In fact, the executive was one of the many senior ESPN and Disney leaders (a list that included CEO Bob Iger) to attend a press conference last week on ESPN’s streaming strategy. When he circulated a memo later in the week by announcing his departure, he would have taken employees by surprise since he had recently replenished his contract.
Exposing the role and previous responsibilities of Connolly to Disney was “a special, unique, unusual, extraordinary or intellectual character, which gives them a particular value”, society was taken the role of the injured part here which is not dishonest at first glance.
“Consequently direct and direct of Connolly’s violation of the work agreement, Disney was injured and will continue to be injured,” said Bob-Géo Colossus in their file. “Connolly threatens, and unless it is restricted, will continue to violate the work agreement, in Disney and its affiliates of injuries to large and irreparable, for which damages would not allow adequate relief, in that they would not completely compensate for Disney’s injuries.”
