*Marvel CEO's good timing

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but Ike Perlmutter was granted 1.27 million in stock options just a few weeks after his subordinate began informal talks with Disney about how the two companies could work together. That conversation led to Disney offering to buy Marvel for $4 billion - and thanks to the stock options, Perlmutter stands to pick up more than $34 million. That's still loose change, relatively speaking, to the $1.5 billion he stands to gain by virtue of his 37 percent stake in Marvel. Still, the timing of those options is bound to raise questions about who knew what and when. From the WSJ:

According to [an SEC] filing, David Maisel, chairman of Marvel's film division, met with Disney's CEO, Robert Iger, on Feb. 18, 2009, "to discuss ways in which the relationship between the two companies could be expanded." The document, filed late Tuesday, adds that Mr. Maisel didn't mention the meeting to anyone else at Marvel, including his boss, Mr. Perlmutter, because the conversation was "general" in nature. Less than two weeks later, on March 2, Mr. Perlmutter was granted options for 514,354 Marvel shares with an exercise price of $25.86. On March 23, he was granted options to buy another 750,000 shares for $23.15 each.

Iger and Maisel next met on June 2, which apparently is when the takeover discussions really got going. The proposed deal was announced on Aug. 30. Here's another weird bit of timing:

For years, Marvel in early March has awarded its executives restricted stock, not options. Only Mr. Perlmutter received options instead of restricted stock this year, according to the filing, which said the options "could provide him with a greater incentive to continue and improve upon his strong performance."

The LAT had reported on the basics of the SEC filing this morning.

*It was footnoted.org that first reported on the the timing behind Perlmutter's option deal.