Company: AAOI
Filing Date: 2025-03-10
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-022149
Chunk: 30

Company: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-03-10
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 30
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 equity securities.                                         
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19

TABLE OF CONTENTS

| ​ | ​ | What We Do                                                                                                                                                                                 | ​ | ​ | ​ | What We Don’t Do                                                                                                                               | ​ | ​ |
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 Succession Planning.We review the risks associated with our key executive officer positions to ensure adequate succession plans are in place.                                              
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 No Dividends or Dividend Equivalents Payable on Unvested Equity Awards.We do not pay dividends or dividend equivalents on unvested RSU awards. 
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 Clawback Policy and Stock Ownership Guidelines.We have a clawback policy and stock ownership guidelines for our executive officers to align their interest with those of our stockholders. 
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Governance of Executive Compensation Program Role of the Compensation Committee The compensation committee has the primary responsibility of developing, implementing and overseeing our executive and incentive compensation policies and programs. While the compensation committee reports its decisions to and takes into account the feedback of the Board, the compensation committee generally makes the final decisions regarding the compensation of our Chief Executive Officer and NEOs. Compensation-Setting Process The compensation committee determines the target total direct compensation opportunities for our executive officers, including our NEOs. In any given year, the compensation committee considers some or all of the following factors: • the financial and operational objectives established by the Board for the year at issue; • the anticipated role that officer will play in the coming year in achieving those objectives and the cost and difficulty of replacing that individual; • internal pay equity among our executive officers; • each individual executive officer’s skills, experience, qualifications and role relative to other similarly-situated executives at the companies in our compensation peer group; • the annual performance review for each executive officer, including contributions to our overall performance, demonstrated leadership and significant individual achievements; • our financial performance relative to our peers; • the compensation practices of our compensation peer group and the positioning of each executive officer’s compensation as compared to our peer group; and • the recommendations provided by our CEO with respect to the compensation of our other executive officers. These factors provide a framework, with no single factor being determinative in setting pay levels. Role of Our Officers The compensation committee relies on the observations and information provided by our executive officers. Our Chief Executive Officer