Company: ISRG
Filing Date: 2025-03-14
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001035267-25-000098
Chunk: 78

Company: INTUITIVE SURGICAL INC
Filing Date: 2025-03-14
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 78
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 of its outstanding common stock. The Company’s success has resulted in a significant increase in stockholder value as the Company’s market capitalization grew from $19.4 billion at December 31, 2014 to $186.1 billion at December 31, 2024, an increase of approximately 862%.

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The Board believes that the Company’s success is due to its highly talented employee base and that future success depends on the ability to attract and retain high-caliber employees. The total equity awards granted to our NEOs has remained at a small percentage relative to the total equity awards granted to our employees company-wide for the last ten years. In 2024, the total equity awards granted to our NEOs was approximately 4.4% of the total equity awards granted to our employees company-wide; see “Compensation Discussion and Analysis – Long-Term Incentive Compensation” for more information on the equity awards granted to our NEOs in 2024. The Company’s engineering operations are primarily located in Silicon Valley, where it must compete with many technology companies, including high profile start-ups, for a limited pool of talented people. We also compete with other large medical device companies for a limited pool of exceptional sales and service personnel globally. The ability to grant equity awards is a necessary and powerful recruiting and retention tool for the Company to obtain the high-quality employees it needs.

The 2009 Employment Commencement Incentive Plan (“New Hire Plan”) and the 2010 Plan are our only active employee equity plans (other than our 2000 Employee Stock Purchase Plan). The New Hire Plan expired in October 2019 and, therefore, while awards granted prior to the plan’s expiration continue to remain outstanding until their original expiration date, no additional awards may be granted under the New Hire Plan. As of February 27, 2025, the Compensation Committee anticipates that the 5,000,000 shares requested under the Amended 2010 Plan, plus 16,989,135 shares available for issuance under the 2010 Plan prior to the amendment and restatement, will enable the Company to fund its equity compensation program for employees through the date of our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, accommodating anticipated grants relating to the hiring, retention, and promotion of employees.

The Compensation Committee (which administers our equity plans) recognizes its responsibility to strike a balance between stockholder concerns regarding the potential dilutive effect of equity awards and the ability to attract, retain, and reward employees whose contributions