Company: SOJE
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0000092122-25-000032
Chunk: 95

Company: SOUTHERN CO
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 95
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 value of the common stock , or (b) amend, alter, change or repeal [Intentionally Omitted], Article Twelfth, this provision or any provision contained in the Certificate of Incorporation or in any amendment thereto which provides for the vote of the holders of at least two-thirds of the issued and outstanding common stock .

#### Southern Company2025 Proxy Statement83
| The Board recommends a voteAGAINST eachproposal |

The following four proposals were submitted by stockholders. If the stockholder proponent of each proposal, or the proponent’s representative, is present at the annual meeting in person and presents the proposal for a vote, then the proposal will be voted on at the meeting.

Following SEC rules, other than minor formatting changes, we are reprinting the proposals, graphics and supporting statements as they were submitted to us. Some of the following proposals may contain assertions about the Company that we believe are incorrect. The Board has not attempted to refute all such assertions. However, the Board has considered each proposal and recommended a vote based on the specific reasons set forth in each Board response.

#### Item 5: Simple Majority Vote
Mr. John Chevedden, 2215 Nelson Avenue, No. 205, Redondo Beach, California 90278, holder of at least 100 shares of Southern Company common stock, submitted the following proposal.

#### Proposal 5 – Simple Majority Vote
Shareholders request that our board take each step necessary so that each voting requirement in our charter and bylaws (that is explicit or implicit due to default to state law) that calls for a greater than simple majority vote be replaced by a requirement for a majority of the votes cast for and against applicable proposals, or a simple majority in compliance with applicable laws. If necessary this means the closest standard to a majority of the votes cast for and against such proposals consistent with applicable laws. This includes making the necessary changes in plain English.

Shareholders are willing to pay a premium for shares of companies that have excellent corporate governance. The supermajority voting requirements, like those of The Southern Company, have been found to be one of 6 entrenching mechanisms that are negatively related to company performance according to "What Matters in Corporate Governance" by Lucien Bebchuk, Alma Cohen and Allen Ferrell of the Harvard Law School. Supermajority requirements are used to block initiatives supported by most shareowners but opposed by a status quo management.

This proposal topic won from 74% to 88% support at Weyerhaeuser,