Jobs signed Pixar contract with suspicious option date

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs, “helped broker a film director’s employment contract with Pixar that included a large stock options grant that had a particularly beneficial date… The Wall Street Journal said the grant was part of a 2001 contract between Pixar and John Lasseter, and carried the lowest share price of the previous year on a date more than three months before the signing of the contract. Jobs, who was at the time chairman and CEO of Pixar, signed on behalf of the company. The Journal said it’s not clear whether Jobs had a role in choosing the prior grant date, one of several awarded by the Emeryville-based company at yearly lows.”