Company: GWW
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-015730
Chunk: 103

Company: W.W. GRAINGER, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 103
---
 | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 4: APPROVALAND ADOPTION | ​ | ​ | QUESTIONS ANDANSWERS | ​ | ​ | APPENDICES | ​ |

TABLE OF CONTENTS

| ​ | invest.grainger.com | ​ | ​ | 75 | ​ | ​ | ● | ​ |

| ​ |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | ​ | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 3:​                                                        
 ​                                                                   
 Say on Pay​                                                         
 Approve, on an advisory basis, NamedExecutive Officer compensation​ | ​ |
| ​ | What are you voting on?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |   |   |   |                                                                     | ​ |
| ​ | To approve, on an advisory basis, Named Executive Officer (“NEO”) compensation.                                                                                                                                                                          |   |   |   |                                                                     | ​ |
| ​ | The Board recommends a vote “FOR” the approval, on an advisory basis,of the compensation of the NEOs as discussed in the “CompensationDiscussion and Analysis” and the accompanying tables, and the relatednarrative disclosure in this proxy statement. |   |   |   |                                                                     | ​ |

The Company is asking its shareholders for their non-binding advisory approval of the 2024 compensation of its NEOs. At our 2024 Annual Meeting, shareholders provided a clear endorsement of the Company’s executive compensation programs with approximately 94% voting in favor of our NEO compensation. As described in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis beginning on page 37, the 2024 NEO compensation programs remain generally consistent with the program described to shareholders in our 2024 proxy statement and reflects: • Pay for Performance Approach: Our programs align pay with performance in the best interest of our shareholders. • Balanced and Sound Pay Practices: The Company sets target compensation to approximate the market median of companies that are of similar size and complexity and rewards long-term performance while not encouraging excessive risk taking. • Delivered solid 2024 results: In 2024, the Company delivered solid financial performance, finishing the year with full year sales of $17.2 billion up 4.2% on a reported basis or up 4.7% on a daily, organic constant currency basis. This includes market outgrowth of approximately 100 basis points in the High-Touch Solutions—U.S. business. Adjusted operating margin decreased 20 basis points to 15.5%, realized adjusted diluted EPS of $38.96, up 6.2% versus prior year, produced 2024