For the Record - April 27, 2007

Pixar stock options: An article in Business on April 10 about an exchange offer made to employees of Pixar Animation Studios by the company’s new owner, Walt Disney Co., mischaracterized the backdating of stock options at Pixar. The article suggested that a fraud had been committed when Pixar backdated options by choosing dates for grants when the company’s stock price was low to make them more valuable later. Disney disclosed shortly after buying Pixar last year that the company was under investigation by federal regulators for backdating. It subsequently said an internal investigation confirmed that backdating had occurred. But there have been no findings of fraud. Also, the article should not have used the word “fake” to describe the backdated option prices.