Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has found itself caught in a few more tangled webs than it can handle recently. First, CEO Eric Schmidt left the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) board of directors because the Android mobile phone platform and Chrome Web browser too often put Schmidt's interests on a collision course with Apple's. Former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson then chose to leave Google's board and stay in Apple's boardroom.

Now billionaire venture capitalist John Doerr has chosen sides in another online conflict. As a partner with private investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Doerr has helped build many household names including Google, Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), and Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU), and he serves on more boards than the Food and Drug Administration would recommend. Because of Google moving into electronic books and online retailing operations, along with Android gadgets clashing with the Kindle, Doerr is leaving Amazon so he can stay on Google's board.

Doerr is a powerful and admired man , and his departure is not good for Amazon. "Doerr (and Kleiner) is the center of gravity in the Internet," according to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Schmidt calls him "one of Google's best board members." But the choice must have been easy -- Doerr made his billions mostly on the early investment in Google, after all. And Kleiner still has a representative in Amazon's highest halls, so that tie is not completely severed yet.

That's not the last of Google's potential leadership conflicts. Google board member John Hennessy also serves on the board of Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), and it's not much of a stretch to imagine a conflict of interest there nowadays; Google has networking ambitions and Cisco is also spreading itself thin in many directions right now. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) CEO Paul Otellini can probably stay, unless Google pulls another page from the Apple playbook and starts buying chip design firms. Hey, stranger things have happened.

Will Google ever run out of conflicting interests? Ponder those tangled webs in the comments below.