Company: ACTG
Filing Date: 2025-04-09
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000934549-25-000014
Chunk: 35

Company: ACACIA RESEARCH CORP
Filing Date: 2025-04-09
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 35
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 a quarterly basis in arrears, and our non-employee directors had the option of receiving cash fees in an equivalent amount of Company stock.

In addition, the directors are subject to the stock ownership guidelines set forth in the section below titled “ Other Compensation Policies ”; " Stock Ownership Guidelines .”

Under this director compensation program as described above, the annual fees non-employee directors earned for service on our Board, and for service on each committee of our Board of which the director was a member, during 2024 were as follows:

|                                                     |     | Member Annual Retainer ($) |        |     | Chair Additional Annual Retainer ($) |        |
| Board of Directors                                  |     |                            | 80,000 |     |                                      | 40,000 |
| Lead Independent Director                           |     |                            |      — |     |                                      | 25,000 |
| Audit Committee                                     |     |                            |      — |     |                                      | 25,000 |
| Compensation Committee                              |     |                            |      — |     |                                      | 20,000 |
| Nominating, Governance and Sustainability Committee |     |                            |      — |     |                                      | 15,000 |
| Strategic Committee1                                |     |                            | 80,000 |     |                                      | 10,000 |

| (1) |     | The Strategic Committee was disbanded in February 2024. |

In 2024, each non-employee director who commenced service on our Board was eligible to receive an onboarding award consisting of restricted stock units with an aggregate grant date fair value of $120,000, prorated for such director’s service from the appointment date to the next annual meeting thereafter. The form of the award was determined by our Board (or a designated committee thereof) at the time of each grant. The onboarding grants vest on the date of the Company’s annual meeting following the director’s appointment date, subject to the director’s continued service.

In addition, on the date of the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders (the “2024 Annual Meeting”), each non-employee director continuing to serve as a director following the 2024 Annual Meeting was granted restricted stock units that vest on the date of this Annual Meeting and that had an aggregate grant date fair value of $120,000 prorated based on the number of full months of service on our Board since the 2024 Annual Meeting.

The number of restricted stock units each non-employee director received was determined based