Company: LIDRW
Filing Date: 2025-04-07
Form Type: DEFC14A
Source: 0001140361-25-012590
Chunk: 54

Company: AEye, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-07
Form: DEFC14A
Chunk 54
---
 the authorized shares prior to the reverse stock split of 2023. At the time of the reverse split General Counsel told shareholders that the NASDAQ 20% rule would protect them from undue dilution without shareholder oversite and that the reduction of the then 600,000,000 authorized shares was unnecessary to protect the shareholders from the dilution without shareholder input. This was obviously untrue as the Board and Top Management have diluted shareholder interest in 2024 by 40.4% as of Q3, 2024, an increase from 6,502,989 at the end of 2023, to 9,133,148 at the end of Q3, 2024. It also appears that the Board and Top Management intend to continue to dilute shareholder interest without this amendment and without any shareholder oversite. This comes at a time when funds are tight, and the Board and Top Management continue to pay themselves substantial compensation. It is possible that maintenance of the excessive level of authorized shares could perpetuate the excessive compensation of the board and management. The Board’s Statement of Opposition A MAJORITY OF THE BOARD RECOMMENDS THAT YOU VOTE AGAINST PROPOSAL 5 FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS: The Board has concluded, after carefully considering the stockholder proposal, that the Company is unable to reduce the number of authorized shares of common stock as requested in the proposal due to the Company’s existing contractual obligations. The proposal seeks to amend the Company’s Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to reduce the number of authorized shares of common stock of the Company to 20,000,000. As disclosed in this proxy statement, there are 18,690,177 shares of its common stock outstanding as of April 4, 2025. In addition to such amount, and as previously disclosed in the Company’s public filings with the Commission, the Company has entered into certain contractual arrangements that provide for the issuance of common stock of the Company upon the occurrence of certain events, including pursuant to the exercise of warrants, the conversion of convertible notes, the entry into equity lines of credit, and equity incentive plans. The Board approved such arrangements and determined that they were in the best interest of the Company and its stockholders. For example, on January 2, 2025, the Company entered into a Senior Unsecured Convertible Note transaction, which provided important growth capital to the Company and extended the Company’s runway to continue reaching key milestones for the Company’s Apollo product. Pursuant to