LOS ANGELES, Dec 12 (AFP) - Walt Disney Company president Michael Ovitz will leave the company on January 31, Disney said in a statement Thursday.

Ovitz had been expected to resign following his dustup with China over a movie about the Dalai Lama.

"I will miss Michael's energy, creativity and leadership at Disney," said Disney President Michael Eisner.

Published reports said Ovitz had difficulties carving out a clear role for himself at the company. The reports also mentioned friction with other executives.

Ovitz had given the greenlight to the movie "Kundun" about the Dalai Lama and his struggle against China's annexation of Tibet and oppression of Buddhists there.

MCA and Universal passed on the movie, but Ovitz picked it up with highly respected Martin Scorsese as its director. Beijing hinted if Disney made the movie it could pose problems for Disney's planned theme park near Shanghai.

"Kundun was the last straw in a difficult and untenable situation," the Hollywood executive told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

"The feeling was 'if they saw this coming (the confrontation with Beijing), why didn't you?'"

The Wall Street Journal reported that Hollywood's one-time super agent and Disney mutually agreed to sever ties. The New York Times reported he has held conversations with Sony in recent weeks about taking a job there.

The performance of Ovitz, who was the top talent agent with Creative Artists Agency when he took the post with Disney, had apparently fallen short of the mark, according to the reports.

Ovitz was closely involved with the company's film, television and theme park business, but his efforts to shore up Disney's music business were slow to develop, the Journal reported.

He was in good part successful in trying to crack open China for the company, but suffered a setback over "Kundun" that company officials say could hurt other ventures.