As if the continuing hurly-burly over the backdating of stock options by Apple wasn’t enough, it appears that Jobs’s other company has now been dragged into the mess. Citing SEC documents, reporters at the Wall Street Journal are now saying that Pixar producer and director John Lasseter received backdating options grants that stood to make him millions.
The grants came in Lasseter’s 2000 contract, which was approved by Jobs in his role as then CEO. Pixar has, of course, been subsumed by Disney by this point, giving Jobs a spot on the board. Disney CEO Bob Iger repeated a statement of last fall, saying that “we aren’t aware of any basis under which stock options that were issued by Pixar would have a material impact on our financial statements.”
While both internal and independent investigations have cleared Jobs of wrongdoing at Apple, a probe by government agencies is ongoing, and the Pixar news could still have an impact on Jobs and Apple.
[via Mac Surfer]
What independent investigation cleared Jobs of wrongdoing? That investigation to which you linked was headed by two Apple board members.