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05:43 AAPL Pixar pay package to Lasseter included well-timed options - WSJ (86.18 )

The Wall Street Journal reports Steve Jobs helped negotiate an employment contract with a top film director that included a large stock-options grant with an especially well-timed date, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The options grant, part of a 2001 employment contract reached between Pixar and animated-film director John Lasseter, carried the lowest share price of the previous year -- on a date more than three months before the employment contract was actually signed. Mr. Jobs, then Pixar's chairman and chief executive, signed the agreement on behalf of Pixar.

It remains unclear what role, if any, Mr. Jobs played in selecting the prior grant date of the agreement's stock options. The grant is one of several the co awarded at yearly lows, a pattern that has raised questions about whether the Pixar grants were improperly backdated. (DIS)