Good morning. Welcome to Versant Media Group Inc. 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Mark Lazarus, CEO of Versant.
Thank you, Jordan. Welcome everyone to Versant's 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I will be serving as Chairman of this meeting. I declare that this meeting is duly convened, properly organized, and competent to transact business. The polls are open and will close as soon as the official business portion of the meeting has been completed without further notice. We encourage any shareholders to vote now if they have not yet done so. The agenda and rules of conduct that govern this meeting are posted on the meeting website. Joining me today are several members of management, including Jordan Fasbender, our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Anand Kini, our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Wiley Collins, our Executive Vice President of Investor Relations, Treasury, and Risk Management, and Keith Cocozza, our Chief Communications Officer.
Also attending are members of our board of directors and the audit partner from Deloitte & Touche, our independent auditors. Jordan Fasbender will be the moderator and secretary of this meeting.
Thank you, Mark. This meeting has been called pursuant to the notice dated April 23rd, sent to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 14th. American Election Services has been appointed as the judge of election, and Jim Rate is their representative. Jim will oversee the conduct of the votes at this meeting and at any adjournment or postponement. Jim has delivered to me his oath of office and is advised that based on proxies presented prior to the meeting, a quorum exists for each member to be voted upon. Broadridge Financial Solutions has provided an affidavit attesting to the fact that the proxy materials were mailed to shareholders of record on April 13th, 2026. The notice of meeting and the affidavit will be incorporated into the minutes of the meeting. I'd also like to note that today's remarks 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 section of our Form 10-K, 10-Q, and other reports on file with the SEC. Please refer to the rules of conduct for additional information. We will now proceed to the business of the meeting. We will consider four proposals. These proposals are item one, the election of directors, item two, ratifying Deloitte & Touche as our independent auditors for 2026, item three, an advisory vote on the frequency of future advisory votes to approve named executive officer compensation, and item four, approving the Versant Media Group Inc. employee stock purchase plan. The board has recommended that shareholders vote for all on item one, for items two and four, and for one year on item three.
These proposals and the reasons for the board's recommendations are set forth in the proxy statement. The proposals are now properly before the meeting for consideration and action. If a shareholder has any questions or comments on any of these proposals, please submit it through the Q&A tab on the meeting platform. We will close the polls on all matters shortly. If you have not voted or wish to change your vote, please do so now. If you've not already voted and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. The polls have been open since registration began. All shareholders and proxies have by now had an opportunity to vote, and the polls for each matter are now closed.
The judge of election has informed me that based on his preliminary tally, shareholders have voted in favor of the election of all directors' names in item one, for items two and four, and for one year on item three. He will execute a certificate with the final voting results that will be filed along with the minutes of the meeting. The final voting results will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a Form 8-K within four business days.
The formal part of this meeting is now adjourned. We can move to the question and answer portion of the meeting. If any shareholders would like to submit a question and have not yet done so, please submit it now through the Q&A tab on the meeting platform. Jordan, do we have any questions?
Yes, Mark, we do. We've been asked, why do some Comcast shareholders automatically receive Versant shares following the separation? Versant became an independent public company through a tax-free spin from Comcast. As part of the separation, Comcast distributed shares of Versant common stock to all holders of Comcast common stock as of the record date, giving them ownership in a newly independent company. Shareholders do not need to take any action to participate in the distribution. Another question we received is can I buy Versant stock? Versant is publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock market under the ticker VSNT, and its Class A common stock may be purchased on the open market and through your brokerage. Another question we received, how many shares does Versant have outstanding? Versant has both Class A and Class B common stock outstanding as part of its dual-class structure.
As disclosed in the company's proxy statement, Versant had approximately 141,116,698 shares of Class A common stock and approximately 377,745 shares of Class B common stock outstanding as of April 14th, 2026. Another question we received, are you considering buying or competing with platforms like YouTube, Bluesky, or other digital platforms? We compete today with platforms that look to aggregate viewing audiences, including digital platforms. Our strategy is to leverage Versant's trusted brands and large audiences to deepen engagement, expand reach, and drive monetization across our own platforms and products. Another question we received, why do you not show the education of the nominees for the board of directors? We in fact do. Our website includes the educational backgrounds for all our board of directors. Another question we received, where is the summary compensation table and the CEO pay ratio in the proxy statement?
Per SEC guidance, Versant was not required to provide a CEO pay ratio statement or a summary compensation table in our proxy statement this year because of the spin. Next year, we plan to provide a full CD&A when we have an executive compensation vote. Mark, that's all the questions we received.
Thank you, Jordan. Thank you for your participation and your continued support in today's call. This meeting is now adjourned.
The annual meeting has now concluded. Thank you for participating in the meeting.