Highlights from Microsoft’s annual shareholders meeting

I want to thank Microsoft’s shareholders who attended or voted at this year’s Annual Shareholders Meeting. Microsoft shareholders:

  • Re-elected all 11 directors to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders. All director nominees received a vote of 99 percent of votes cast.
  • Approved, on a nonbinding advisory basis, the fiscal year 2016 compensation of the company’s named executive officers. The advisory measure received 96 percent of votes cast.
  • Ratified the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company’s independent auditor for fiscal year 2017, with a vote of almost 99 percent of votes cast.
  • Approved an amendment to Microsoft’s Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation lowering the threshold for shareholders calling a special meeting from 25 to 15 percent of shares, with a vote of 99 percent of votes cast.
  • Approved a French Sub Plan under the 2001 Stock Plan, with a vote of 97 percent of votes cast.
  • Rejected a shareholder proposal to make amendments to the current Proxy Access for Director Nominations bylaw; the proposal received approximately 26 percent of votes cast.

As Satya Nadella has shared, Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and organization connects in fundamental ways with how we as a company operate, from how we design and develop technology to how we work to serve people with disabilities. A highlight of this year’s meeting was the demonstration by Anne Taylor, Senior Supportability Program Manager, of how our assistive technologies like Windows Narrator (a screen reader built into Windows 10) make it possible for someone who is blind or visually impaired to access our shareholder materials. Anne showed on stage how, by using Narrator, she was able to have a Word document read back to her at various speeds, call out when comments were made, and provide her own responses through the use of keyboard shortcuts instead of a mouse.

In conjunction with providing an online vote via a virtual shareholders meeting, we delivered an interactive version of our proxy statement for the second year in a row. A webcast of our annual meeting is available on our Investor Relations site, along with a detailed breakdown of the vote results.

We continually strive to improve. Let us know what you think by sending questions or thoughts you may have to [email protected].

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