KB HOME CEO OUSTED OVER STOCK OPTIONS

The L.A. Times reports:

One of California's highest-paid executives, KB Home chief Bruce Karatz, was ousted Sunday, becoming the latest casualty in a national scandal over the manipulation of lucrative stock option grants.

The Los Angeles-based home-building company said an internal investigation by its board concluded that from 1998 to 2005, Karatz had a direct role in setting "incorrect" dates for stock option grants that inflated their value for himself and other executives.

Karatz, 61, has reaped hundreds of millions of dollars running the fifth-biggest U.S. home builder, much of which came in recent years from cashing in stock options awarded for his performance during the recently ended housing boom. Last year, he took in $155 million, mostly from options, on an annual salary of $1 million. On Sunday, KB Home said Karatz had agreed to repay the company $13 million and retire effective immediately.

A real estate and stock options story all in one.