Hello, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of The AES Corporation. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, we'll have a question- and- answer session. You can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the message icon. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Mr. Jay Morse, Chairman of the Board of AES. Mr. Morse, the floor is yours.
Good morning. I'm Jay Morse, Chairman of the Board of AES, and it's my pleasure to welcome all of you. It is 9:30 A.M., and in accordance with the notice of the meeting, I now officially call to order the 2022 annual meeting of shareholders of AES. As we did last year, we are holding the meeting by a live webcast in order to allow greater stockholder access and participation. The agenda, rules of conduct, and technical support information are available on the meeting site by selecting the Documents icon at the top of the screen, and a copy of the annual report and proxy statement can be found under the meeting materials on the left side of the screen. This meeting will be conducted in accordance with procedures and standards outlined in these documents, and we encourage our stockholders to review them.
Please remember that use of recording equipment is prohibited during the annual meeting. During the meeting, stockholders have the opportunity to submit questions in writing using the Messages icon at the top of the screen. We will do our best to respond to appropriate questions received that are pertinent to meeting matters in the time permitted. Before proceeding to the official business of the meeting, let me introduce some key people who are participating in the meeting.
First, I'd like to introduce the director nominees. In addition to myself, the following director nominees are in attendance: Janet Davidson, Andrés Gluski, the CEO, Tarun Khanna, Holly Keller Koeppel, Julie Laulis, James Miller, Alain Monié, Moisés Naím, Teresa Sebastian, and Maura Shaughnessy. I'd also like to introduce members of the management team, who, in addition to Andrés, comprise the senior leadership of the corporation. Bernerd Da Santos, EVP and Chief Operating Officer.
Paul Freedman, EVP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary. Tish Mendoza, EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer. Stephen Coughlin, EVP and Chief Financial Officer. Julian Nebreda, EVP and President, U.S. and Global Business Lines. Juan Ignacio Rubiolo, EVP and President, International Businesses. In addition, I'm pleased to introduce Tyler Dorn from Ernst & Young LLP, AES's independent auditor, who audited the company's 2021 financial statements. He's available to attend and respond to any appropriate questions. As in past years, Computershare will serve as the Inspector of Elections and will assist in the tabulation of proxies and ballots. Computershare is represented here today by Philip Meyer. As required by Delaware law, he has signed an oath to execute faithfully the duties of Inspector with strict impartiality. Now let me turn to the formal business before us.
Our Corporate Secretary, Paul Freedman, is serving as Secretary of the meeting, and he's reported that the notice of meeting was mailed on March 10th, 2022 to shareholders of record as of February 25th, 2022. A list of stockholders of record entitled to vote at the meeting is open to the examination by stockholders during this meeting and can be accessed by clicking the link in the lower right corner of the screen. Mr. Freedman, as Secretary of today's meeting, reports that 604,419,670 shares of the 667,395,142 shares eligible to vote are present at the meeting, either in person or by proxy.
This is 95.6% of the outstanding voting stock of the company entitled to vote at the meeting. Accordingly, a quorum exists, and we can transact the business before us. As listed in the notice of the meeting, we have three management proposals before us and one stockholder proposal. Detailed information on the proposals is contained in the notice and proxy statement. Voting today is by proxy and electronic ballot. Any stockholder who has not voted or who wishes to change his or her vote may do so by clicking the Vote button in the webcast portal and following the instructions provided. Stockholders who have submitted proxies or who have not previously voted via the internet or by phone and do not wish to change their vote do not need to take any further action. Your votes will be counted automatically.
At this time, the polls are open for voting on the proposals. The first item to be acted upon by the stockholders is the election of directors. Each of the director nominees listed in the proxy statement was unanimously recommended to the stockholders for election by the Board of Directors at this annual meeting. I declare the polls now closed for Proposal 1. The Inspector of Elections has tabulated the votes. I'm pleased to report the voting results. On Proposal 1, at least 97% of shares voted were in favor of each nominee. Therefore, I hereby declare that at least a majority of votes were voted in favor of each individual named as a nominee for director in the proxy, and each such person is elected to serve a one-year term expiring at the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders or as otherwise provided under Delaware law.
The next item of business to be acted upon by the stockholders is consideration of an advisory vote on the company's executive compensation, which was unanimously recommended by the Board of Directors for stockholder approval as described in the compensation discussion and analysis and related sections of the proxy statement. The polls are now closed for Proposal 2. The Inspector of Elections has tabulated the results. The results of the voting are. On Proposal 2 to approve the company's executive compensation, over 94.5% of shares voted in favor of this proposal. Therefore, I hereby declare that a majority of the shares voted in favor of this proposal, and it is so approved. The next item of business to be acted upon by the stockholders is to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent auditor of the company for fiscal year 2022.
Ernst & Young LLP has been approved as the company's auditor for fiscal year 2022 by the Financial Audit Committee and the Board of Directors as described in the proxy statement. The polls are now closed for Proposal 3. The Inspector of Elections has tabulated the results, and the results of voting are on Proposal 3, to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent auditor for the company for fiscal year 2022, over 98% of shares voted in favor of this proposal. Therefore, I hereby declare that a majority of the shares voted to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP to audit the company's financial statements for fiscal year 2022, and that such proposal is ratified. The next item, if properly presented, is to vote on a non-binding proposal to subject termination pay to stockholder approval.
The stockholder proposal, the supporting statement, and the Board's and management's opposition statement to the proposal are included in the proxy statement. The proposal has been submitted by John Chevedden. Mr. Chevedden will present the resolution. Mr. Chevedden, in accordance with the three-minute time limitation to present the proposal set forth in rules of conduct, you may make your statement. Operator, please unmute Mr. Chevedden.
Hello, this is John Chevedden. Can you hear me okay?
Yes, we can.
Proposal 4, shareholder ratification of termination pay. Shareholders request that the Board seek shareholder approval of any senior manager's new or renewed pay package that provides for severance or termination payments with an estimated value exceeding 2.99x the sum of the executive's base salary plus target short-term bonus. Severance or termination payments include cash, equity, or other compensation that's paid out or vests due to a senior executive's termination for any reason. Payments includes those provided under employment agreements, severance plans, and change in control clauses in long-term equity plans. Estimated total value includes lump sum payments offsetting tax liabilities, perquisites or benefits not vested under a generally available plan to management employees, post-employment consulting fees or office expense and equity awards if vesting is accelerated or a performance condition waived due to termination.
The Board shall retain the option to seek shareholder approval after material terms are agreed upon. Generous performance-based pay can be okay, but shareholder ratification of golden parachute severance packages with a total cost exceeding 2.99 x the base salary plus target bonus better aligns management pay with shareholder interest. For instance, at one company, if the CEO is terminated, he will receive an estimated $39 million in termination payments, nearly 7 x his base salary plus short-term bonus. It is in the best interest of AES shareholders to be protected for such lavish management termination packages for one person. Every self-serving management objection to this proposal would be rebutted if shareholders were allotted enough words to do so. This proposal topic won substantial support at the 2021 FedEx annual meeting, 58% approval. Please vote yes. Shareholder ratification of termination pay, Proposal 4.
Mr. Chevedden, I appreciate your statement and the stockholder proposal to subject termination pay to stockholder approval. Your Board of Directors recommends a vote against this stockholder proposal for the reasons stated in the proxy statement. The polls are now closed for Proposal 4. The Inspector of Elections has tabulated the results. The results of the voting are on Proposal 4, to vote on a non-binding stockholder proposal to subject termination pay to stockholder approval, more than 55% of votes cast were against. Therefore, I hereby declare that the majority of votes were not in favor of the proposal, and such proposal is not approved. The reported voting results are preliminary, and the final vote report of the inspector will be filed with the records of the meeting.
The final vote of the voting will be reported in the current report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within four days after this meeting. Having completed the formal portion of this meeting, the 2022 annual meeting of The AES Corporation is now adjourned. We will now open the meeting to questions. As a reminder, if you would like to submit a question, please use the messages icon to submit your question online.
Okay. There have been no questions submitted.
Let me express my sincere appreciation to the stockholders who participated in the meeting as well as those who submitted their proxies but were unable to participate in the meeting. The meeting is now concluded.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.