Good morning. I'm Marc Swanson, Chief Executive Officer of United Parks & Resorts Inc. At this time, I call the 2026 annual meeting of stockholders to order. As Chairman of the annual meeting, let me begin by welcoming our stockholders joining us online. This is a virtual meeting conducted via live audio webcast. This format allows stockholders to vote and submit questions in real time and increases stockholder participation and voting. At this time, I will now turn it over to Tom Kelly, our Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary to conduct the formal business portion of this meeting.
Thank you, Marc. Before we get started, I would like to cover a few administrative matters. In the event of technical difficulties, this meeting will be adjourned and reconvened as soon as practicable. The reconvened meeting will be conducted live via teleconference. Details of the reconvened meeting will also be made available to stockholders as soon as possible on the Events and Presentations section of the United Parks & Resorts Inc.'s Investor Relations website at unitedparksinvestors.com, as well as a Form 8-K that will be filed with the SEC. Today's meeting has been duly called and is being conducted in conformity with the laws of the state of Delaware and the company's charter and bylaws. The polls opened at 11:00 A.M. Eastern Time this morning and will close at the end of the business portion of this meeting in approximately 10 minutes.
If you haven't voted or if you want to change your vote, you may do so now online by clicking on the Vote Here button on the right-hand side of your virtual stockholder meeting screen. We have four proposals to be voted on today. I will introduce each of these four proposals, after which the polls will close, and we'll adjourn the formal business portion of this meeting. We will then provide the preliminary results of the voting based on a report from Lou Larson from Broadridge Financial Solutions, who has been appointed to act as Inspector of Election and is present at the meeting today. After reporting the preliminary results, I will turn the meeting back over to Marc Swanson for a few remarks from management, followed by a question and answer session and brief closing remarks from Marc.
During this webcast, you will be able to submit questions to management as well as to Christopher Eckerberg, a representative from KPMG LLP, who is present at the meeting today. Please submit your questions in the space provided at the bottom of your virtual stockholder meeting screen. Broadridge Financial Solutions has delivered an affidavit of distribution establishing that notice of this meeting was duly given and the proxy materials describing the meeting's business have been duly sent or made available to the company's stockholders. A copy of the notice of meeting and the affidavit of distribution will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. All stockholders of record at the close of business on April 17, 2026, are entitled to vote at this annual meeting of stockholders.
Our first order of business at this meeting is to determine that the shares represented at this meeting are sufficient to constitute a quorum for purpose of transacting business. We have been informed by our Inspector of Election that there are 44,320,335 shares of common stock represented by proxy, or approximately 92.7% of all shares entitled to vote at this meeting. Because holders of a majority of the shares entitled to vote at this meeting are present by proxy, I can certify that a quorum exists and declare this meeting to be duly convened for purposes of transacting such business as may properly come before it. The next order of business is a description of the matters to be voted on at today's meeting.
The first proposal before the stockholders of the company is the election of 10 directors to serve until the annual meeting of stockholders in 2027 and until their successors are duly elected and qualified. Based on the recommendation of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors, the board nominated James Chambers, Aayushi Dalal, William Gray, Timothy Hartnett, Nathaniel Lipman, Yoshikazu Maruyama, Thomas Moloney, Neha Jogani Narang, Scott Ross, and Kimberly Schaefer for election. The board has recommended a vote in favor of the election of each of these 10 director nominees. The second proposal before the stockholders of the company is the ratification of the appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, as recommended by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
Services provided by KPMG to the company include examination of the company's financial statements and review of its reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As previously mentioned, Christopher Eckerberg, a representative from KPMG, is here today to respond to any questions during the question and answer session at the end of this meeting. The board has recommended a vote for the ratification of the appointment of KPMG as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026. The third proposal before the stockholders of the company is the advisory vote on executive compensation. We are seeking advisory stockholder approval of the compensation of our named executive officers. We believe the design of our compensation program and the compensation awarded under it creates an appropriate relationship between performance and compensation.
The board has recommended a vote for the approval of the compensation paid to our named executive officers. Although the vote is non-binding, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors and the board will review the voting results in connection with their ongoing evaluation of the company's compensation program. The fourth proposal before the stockholders of the company is to approve, in a non-binding advisory vote, the frequency of future votes on the compensation paid to the named executive officers. The board has recommended a vote for one year. This concludes our consideration of all the proposals at this meeting, and I hereby declare the polls closed for voting. Since there's no further business to be considered, that concludes the business portion of the meeting. The annual stockholders meeting of United Parks & Resorts Inc. is now adjourned and concluded.
As you may recall, we have approximately 92.7% of all of the shares entitled to vote present by proxy. At this time, I would like to report the preliminary results from the Inspector of Elections for shares voted at this meeting by such proxy. The report shows that all of the nominees for election to the board of directors have received a majority of the votes cast in the election. The appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm, as recommended by the board, has been duly ratified. On an advisory basis, the compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved. The advisory vote for executive compensation frequency of one year has also been approved.
As previously stated, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors and the board will review these voting results in connection with their ongoing evaluation of the company's compensation program. The complete voting results will be contained in a Form 8-K that will be filed with the SEC within four business days following this meeting and will be available on our investor relations website promptly after we make the filing. Before we get started with the remarks from management and the question and answer session, I would like to remind everyone that the following discussion may contain forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events.
These statements are not historical facts and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from such anticipated results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements should not be relied upon, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Thus, it should not be assumed that our silence over time means that actual events are occurring as expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Please refer to our discussion set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2025, as such risks, uncertainties, and factors may be updated in the company's periodic filings with the SEC.
Thank you for your attention and for your investment in United Parks & Resorts. Now, I will turn it over to Marc Swanson for the remarks from management.
Thank you, Tom, and thank you everyone again for joining our annual stockholders meeting. United Parks & Resorts, Inc. is a leading mission-driven theme park and entertainment company. We own and operate or license a diversified portfolio of 13 differentiated theme parks that are grouped in key markets across the U.S. and Abu Dhabi. We provide memorable experiences that matter, attracting guests with a compelling combination of both thrill and family-friendly rides, educational presentations, shows, and other attractions providing a strong value proposition for our guests. Bringing these experiences to life are the ambassadors in our parks. We have some of the most passionate employees in the theme park industry, I'm especially proud to be working with them. We have a unique and differentiated business model that is distinguished by high barriers to entry and proven resiliency through economic cycles.
We have the ability to grow both domestically and internationally through both organic and inorganic opportunities. While 2025 presented a challenging operating environment and results did not meet our expectations, the performance across several areas of our business proved the resilience and enduring popularity of our parks and brands. We navigated various headwinds, including geopolitically-driven declines in international visitation, volatile weather during certain peak visitation periods, and domestic macro unevenness. We are pleased with the performance across multiple aspects of our business that help set the stage for future growth and increasing shareholder value. Our 2026 roadmap is defined by a compelling lineup of new rides, attractions, and events, an updated events calendar, an expanded concert lineup, and upgraded food and retail locations. All supported by a revamped marketing plan designed to increase guest visitation and spending.
With clear opportunities to grow attendance, revenue, and EBITDA, we remain committed to building an even more resilient business that delivers meaningful growth for our stakeholders. As you know, we are one of the world's leading animal rescue organizations. We are proud of the efforts to protect and save wildlife. Over our history, we have helped over 43,000 animals, including bottlenose dolphins, manatees, sea lions, seals, sea turtles, sharks, birds, and more. I'm really proud of the team's hard work and their continued dedication to these important efforts. We will turn to the Q&A portion of the meeting. We have reserved about 10 minutes to answer questions from our stockholders or management. As you are aware, the virtual annual meeting platform has allowed our stockholders to submit questions during the meeting.
While our team is collecting the questions that have been submitted during this meeting, I'll take a moment to answer the first question we received. We have a question here from PETA regarding SeaWorld's breeding program. Thank you for your question. We respect that people care deeply about animals. We do, too. At SeaWorld, caring for marine life and protecting it in the wild is part of our core mission. Our animals receive exceptional care from expert veterinarians and zoological teams. Our programs are independently accredited to the highest standards. That expertise allows us to do something very few organizations can, rescue and rehabilitate animals in need. To date, we have helped more than 43,000 animals with the goal of returning them to the wild whenever possible. The knowledge gained through animals in our care helps support conservation, research, and real-world rescue efforts.
We understand that there are differing views on this topic, Our responsibility is to make decisions grounded in science, animal welfare, and what is best for the animals, both in our care and in the wild. That's work that we are proud of, and it continues to make a real difference. Thank you again for the question. We're checking to see if there's any other questions at the moment. All right. It doesn't look like we have any other questions, I would like to thank everybody for joining today's meeting, and I especially would like to thank all of our employee ambassadors for their contributions, dedication, and commitment to our mission, our board of directors for their very active engagement and input, and all of you, our stockholders, for your investment and support.
On behalf of our board of directors and all the employee ambassadors across the company, thank you for investing in United Parks & Resorts, and for joining us today.
This now concludes the meeting. Thank you for joining, and have a pleasant day.