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Stock options for joint ventures?

Can a publicly-traded company be a majority owner of a joint venture that issues stock options (in the joint venture--not the parent company) to its employees and board members? Does anyone know of examples of this?

Public Comments

1. It is common for two publicly-traded companies to form a new company with each of the firms being part owners of the new venture. In many cases, the new firm will NOT be publicly traded. But, when the venture has the potential of being spun off with an IPO (and being listed), it may offer stock options to its employees.

Example: Ford Motor Co. and QUALCOMM formed a joint venture called Wingcast, with the goal of bringing telematics (on-board nav systems) to Ford Motor Co. automotive products. In this case, the venture folded, and those people who were Wingcast employees came away with nothing. Had the venture succeeded, and the company been spun off as its own listed firm, their stock options would have been very valuable.