Steve Jobs stock worries grow

SEC looks into Pixar option deal.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has been drawn into a second stock options investigation.

While serving as the head of Pixar Inc Jobs allegedly signed off a "well-timed" stock option deal with director John Lasseter in 2001, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Lasseter is credited with helping turn Pixar into an animation powerhouse, having directed Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life.

The options were reportedly given as part of a 10-year deal with Lasseter, who was awarded stock options priced at Pixar's lowest point of the previous year, three months before the actual day the contract was signed.

The back-dated options reportedly netted Lasseter an extra $6.4m in potential profit.

Pixar was sold to Disney in 2006, netting Jobs a position on the company's board and Lasseter a spot as chief creative officer at Disney's animation studios.

Jobs is already mired in a stock options probe with Apple Inc, which is under investigation for back-dating stock options awarded between 1997 and 2002. The adjusted reports from the scandal ended up costing Apple $84m.

An internal probe cleared Jobs of any wrongdoing, and the company maintains that neither Jobs nor any current members of Apple's executive team was implicated in the scandal. The US Attorney General's office is currently investigating the case.

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