Welcome to the twenty twenty one annual meeting for Helmerich and Payne Inc. Our host for today's call is John Lindsay, president and CEO. At this time, all participants will be in a listen only mode. I will now turn the call over to your host, mister Lindsey. You may begin, sir.
Thank you, Paul. Good good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to call the meeting to order and welcome you to our annual meeting of the stockholders. In the interest of a fair and orderly meeting, we ask that you follow the rules of conduct of the annual meeting. The agenda, the rules for conduct, proxy statement, and annual report are available in the virtual annual meeting portal.
Among other things, the rules of conduct address procedures with respect to questions. If we do not address questions at the meeting in accordance with the rules, we will reach out with a response. I'd like to begin by making a few introductions. Our chairman, Hans Helmerich, is here with us today. Directors joining us virtually are Delaney Bellinger, Kevin Crampton, Randy Fouch, Jose Moss, Tom Petrie, Don Robillard, Meg Vandewey, John Ziglas, and Ed Rust.
In addition, Ernst and Young, the company's independent accountants, John Eaton as partner in charge, Katie Toller, audit senior manager. The inspector of election, Tony Corridio, who is a representative of Broadridge Financial Solutions. Will Galt, our corporate secretary, will now make the statement regarding mailing of notice and declaration of a quorum.
Thanks, mister chairman. This meeting is being held pursuant to printed notice mailed on 01/19/2021 to each stockholder of record on 01/05/2021. The affidavit of distribution from Broadridge Financial Solutions will be filed in the company's minute book. A notice of Internet availability of proxy materials and the company's proxy materials were first made available to our stockholders on 01/19/2021. The count of shares present immediately prior to the commencement of this meeting indicated that $94,000,913,675 shares of the company's voting common stock were present or person present in person or by proxy, which constitutes a quorum for this meeting.
Thank you, Will. There are three proposals before the meeting today. I will address each of these proposals. Proposal one is election of directors. The following 11 individuals have been nominated as directors of the company with terms expiring in 2022.
Delaney m Bellinger, Kevin g Crampton, Randy a Fouch, Hans Helmerich, John W. Lindsey, Jose R. Moss, Thomas a Petrie, Donald f Robillard junior, Edward b Rust junior, Mary m Vandewey, and John d Zieglas. I declare nominations closed since the company has not timely received any other nominations. The company recommends a vote for each individual nominated by the board.
Proposal two, ratification of the appointment of Ernst and Young LLP as independent auditors of the company for fiscal twenty twenty one. The company recommends a vote for proposal two. And finally, proposal three, an advisory vote to approve the executive compensation disclosed in the proxy statement. The company recommends a vote for proposal three. Stockholders may submit questions using the text box on the virtual annual meeting web page if you have joined the meeting with your control number.
Polls are now open. Any stockholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. While we allow time for stockholders to complete voting, I'd like to remind you that some of the statements made at this meeting may be considered forward looking. We urge you to read the rules of the meeting and the notice regarding forward looking statements posted to the annual meeting web portal. So we're allowing a little additional time for the voting, and we can also address any proposal related questions.
At this time, we will now close the polls. The inspector should now tabulate the vote for the three proposals. Since there's nothing further, the next item of business is to report is to is for the report of the inspectors. Results of the ballot now be reported by the inspector of election. Tony?
Thank you, mister Lindsay. The vote shows that the stockholders have elected each of the 11 director nominees by a majority of the votes cast. The stockholder the stockholders have ratified the appointment of Ernst and Young as the company's independent auditor by a vote for of over 98% of the shares present and entitled to vote. The stockholders have approved on an advisory basis the company's executive compensation as disclosed in the proxy statement by a vote for of more than 97% of the shares present and entitled to vote. And the final result of the vote today will be announced in an eight ks filing with the SEC within four business days of this meeting.
Thank you, Tony. I declare that the following have been approved by the company's stockholders. The 11 director nominees and proposals two and three have been approved in the manner stated by the inspectors of election. Since there's no further business to come before the meeting, the stockholder meeting is now concluded. With the stockholder meeting completed, I thought I'd make a few remarks on the business.
With 2020 in the record books, we have a combined sense of relief and optimism. Relieved that one of the most difficult years in the company's one hundred year history is behind us and optimistic considering the market share gains we've attained since the bottom of the cycle in August. We are hopeful and we're encouraged by the recent worldwide development of COVID nineteen vaccines. We're encouraged with an improving crude oil price picture, and we're encouraged by the progress we continue to make on strategic efforts to deploy additional digital technology solutions and advance new commercial models. H and P's differentiated customer centric approach of combining our people, our FlexRigs, and our leading edge automation technology enables us to deliver the highest value wells for our customers.
I'm very pleased with our people's service attitude and their ability to quickly respond to customer demand for our rig and technology solutions. We've added back more rigs than the competition due to our proven ability to reactivate rigs safely, efficiently, and cost effectively. I believe our dedicated teams are well equipped, and our conservative financial stewardship will enable us to capitalize on the challenges and opportunities ahead. Along with looking at emissions reducing opportunities like geothermal, H and P will continue to explore and invest in new and diversified technologies as well as expand our digital technology capabilities for the long term sustainability of the company. So thank you again for for joining us today.
So thank you again, and have a good day.
This now concludes the meeting. Thank you for joining, and have a pleasant