Hello, and welcome to the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders for Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Marcus Lemonis, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bed Bath & Beyond. Mr. Lemonis, the floor is yours.
Thank you, operator. I'm happy to welcome you to our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. As the operator stated, I'm Marcus Lemonis, the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. I will serve as the chairman of today's virtual meeting. Before I call the meeting to order, I'd like to introduce you to the other members of the board joining us on the webcast today. They are Joanna Burkey, Barclay F. Corbus, William B. Nettles, Jr., Debra G. Perelman, Robert J. Shapiro, and Joseph J. Tabacco, Jr., who serves as the Lead Independent Director of our board. Also present are Melissa Smith, the company's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, who will serve as the moderator for the Q&A portion of this meeting, and Erica Whitmore and Diana Mays Gonzalez of KPMG LLP, the company's independent auditor, who are responsible and available for questions.
Today's meeting may include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors sections of our Forms 10-K, 10-Q and other reports that we file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update them. The meeting will now officially come to order. We will proceed with the formal business of the meeting indicated in the notice of the annual meeting and the company's proxy statement. The polls opened today, May 14, 2026, at 2:00 P.M. Mountain Time for voting on all matters before the meeting. If you have not already voted and wish to vote, the polls will remain open until we finish presenting the proposals and close the polls.
You do not need to vote during the meeting if you have already voted and do not wish to change your vote. Note that only stockholders who are logged into the meeting using their control number will be available to vote during the meeting and ask questions. We will provide an opportunity for questions and discussion after the meeting has been formally adjourned. We are accepting questions now and encourage you to type your questions in early through the live virtual portal by clicking on the Q&A icon. The secretary of the meeting will file the affidavit of distribution with the records of the meeting. All stockholders of record at the close of business March seventeenth, 2026, or holders of a valid proxy are entitled to vote at the meeting.
At this time, I'd like to introduce Douglas Ives of Computershare, who has been appointed to act as Inspector of Elections at this meeting. Douglas has signed the customary oath of office to execute his duties with strict impartiality. We will file this oath with the records of the meeting. I've been informed that a quorum is present. I hereby declare this meeting to be duly constituted for the transaction of business. We will now proceed with the formal business of this meeting. There are six proposals to be considered by the stockholders at this meeting. The Board recommends that the stockholders vote for each of the proposals one through six. Proposal one is the election of Marcus A. Lemonis, Joanna C. Burkey, Barclay F. Corbus, William B. Nettles, Jr., Debra G. Perelman, Robert J. Shapiro, and Joseph J.
Tabacco Jr. to serve as directors with a term to expire at the Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. 2027 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Proposal two is the ratification of the Audit Committee's appointment of KPMG LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for the year ending December 31st, 2026. Proposal three is the approval on an advisory, non-binding basis of the compensation paid by the company to its named executive officers, also known as the Say on Pay vote. Proposal four is the approval of an amendment to the company's amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock.
Proposal five is the approval of an adjournment of the annual meeting, if necessary, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes at the time of the annual meeting to approve proposal four and/or proposal six. Proposal six is the approval of an amendment and restatement of the company's amended and restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan. That was the final proposal for today's meeting. If you wish to vote and you haven't already, please vote now by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions. The polls will close in 30 seconds. You do not need to vote electronically if you have already sent in your signed proxy or if you have voted by telephone or internet. The time is now 2:09 P.M. Mountain Time on May 14th, 2026, and the polls are now closed for voting.
I have received the preliminary report of the Inspector of Elections to be kept with the company's records of the annual meeting. Based on the preliminary report, Marcus A. Lemonis, Joanna C. Burkey, Barclay F. Corbus, William B. Nettles, Jr., Debra G. Perelman, Robert J. Shapiro, and Joseph J. Tabacco, Jr. have been reelected as directors. The appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December thirty-first, 2026, has been ratified. The compensation paid by the company to its named executive officers has been approved on an advisory, non-binding basis. The amendment to the company's amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock has been approved.
The adjournment of the annual meeting, if necessary, to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes at the time of the annual meeting, to approve proposal four and proposal six has been approved. The amendment and restatement of the company's amended and restated 2005 Equity Incentive Plan has been approved. The formal portion of this meeting is now adjourned. Thank you very much. I'll now answer appropriate questions received through the question and answer portal submitted during the meeting. Melissa, do we have any questions?
There are no questions that are suitable for answering in this forum, Marcus.
Thank you. This concludes the informal portion of our annual meeting. I wanna thank you for attending, and thank you for your interest and support in Bed Bath & Beyond.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.