Company: AAOI
Filing Date: 2025-03-10
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-022149
Chunk: 18

Company: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-03-10
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 18
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 otherwise approves a transfer. Limitations on Awards to Participants. Under the Amended and Restated 2021 Plan, no participant (excluding non-employee directors) may be granted (a) stock-settled awards with an aggregate grant date fair value (as calculated for the Company’s financial reporting purposes, but assuming for awards with performance-based conditions that the number of shares is the target number of shares and applying the valuation calculation as if such awards vest based on the Company’s standard time-based vesting schedule) of greater than $10,000,000 or (b) cash-settled Awards with an aggregate grant date fair value (as calculated for the Company’s financial reporting purposes) of greater than $10,000,000, in each case, increased to $12,000,000 in the calendar year in which the Participant first becomes an employee or independent contractor of the Company or a related company. Limitations on Awards to Non-Employee Directors. Notwithstanding any provision in the Amended and Restated 2021 Plan to the contrary, the aggregate amount of all compensation granted during any calendar year to any member of the Board who is not an employee of the Company (“Outside Director”), including any awards (based on grant date fair value computed as of the date of grant in accordance with applicable financial accounting rules) and any cash retainer or meeting fee paid or provided for service on the Board or any committee thereof, or any award granted in lieu of any such cash retainer or meeting fee, shall not exceed $750,000, with the value increased to $1,000,000 for any Outside Director that joins the Company during the fiscal year. Prohibition on Repricing Stock Options and SARs. The Amended and Restated 2021 Plan provides that the Board or administrator will not have the right, without stockholder approval, to engage in a transaction that is commonly referred to as a “repricing” of outstanding stock options or SARs, including (a) reducing the exercise price of outstanding stock options or SARs with an exercise price greater than the then-current fair market value of the common stock (an “underwater award”), (b) cancelling an underwater award and granting in substitution an award with a lower exercise price, cash, and/or other consideration determined, or (c) take any other action that is treated as a “repricing” under generally accepted accounting principles. Change of Control or Liquidation. Under the Amended and Restated 2021 Plan, unless otherwise provided in the instrument evid