Good day, and welcome to the WisdomTree Investments annual meeting of stockholders. I'd now like to turn the meeting over to Michael Steinhardt. Please go ahead.
I'd like to ask that the meeting come to order. Good morning. My name is Michael Steinhardt, and I am the Chairman of the Board of WisdomTree Investments. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you this morning to our twenty nineteen Annual Stockholders Meeting, which is being held virtually to allow for a greater number of our stockholders to participate in our meeting without the expense and inconvenience of traveling. Before we begin the official meeting of this business of this meeting, excuse me, I would like to note that in 2018 we executed well on several strategic priorities and are beginning to see the benefits of investments made in the business over the past several years.
We completed an efficient and seamless integration of the European exchange traded commodity currency and short and leveraged business of ETF securities. And in 2018, our International segment became a meaningful contributor to overall profitability. We expanded our distribution reach with the signing of several new relationships, adding several no transaction fee platforms, forming the ETF's first commission free relationship with an independent broker dealer. And we continued the commercialization of our model portfolios on several platforms to better position us for accelerated and sustainable growth. We are seeing encouraging signs that our investments are beginning to pay off and that we have the right strategy and are positioned on the right side of secular trends to take advantage of the next wave of growth.
I would like now to turn the meeting over to Jonathan.
Thank you, Michael. Good morning, everyone. I am Jonathan Steinberg, President and CEO of WisdomTree Investments. It is a pleasure to welcome our stockholders to our annual meeting. Our meeting today will consist of two phases.
First, we will take care of the formal business at hand, which is described in the proxy statement for this meeting. A copy of the agenda is on our annual meeting web portal. Following adjournment of the formal proceedings, I will take questions. You may post your questions online at any time and I will address them at the end of the meeting. Only WisdomTree stockholders who have entered their 16 digit control number participate in this meeting will be able to ask questions.
Before proceeding to formal business, I would like to introduce our directors and director nominees who are with us today. Our outside directors, in addition to our Chairman Michael Steinhardt are Tony Bassone, Susan Cobbsgrove, Bruce Levine, Wynn Nuger and Frank Salerno. In addition, I would like to acknowledge members of WisdomTree's management team. Dave Abner, our Head of Europe Stu Bell, our Chief Operating Officer Marci Frankenthaler, our Chief Legal Officer and Secretary Jarrett Lillian, our Head of Emerging Technologies Kurt McAlpine, our Global Head of Distribution Amit Muni, our Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Schwartz, our Global Head of Research and Pete Azemba, our Chief Administrative Officer. Our independent auditor, the firm of Ernest and Young is represented at this meeting by Lindsey Hill.
Our outside counsel, the firm of Goodwin Proctor is represented by Jocelyn Arell. Thank you. Now, let's proceed to the formal business of the meeting. Marci Frankenthaler, our secretary, will act as secretary for this meeting.
Mr. Steinberg, I present to you the affidavit of distribution of Philip Barone of Broadridge Financial Services dated May 1339. This affidavit states that commencing on April 3039, notice of the meeting was mailed to all stockholders of record at the close of business on April 2639. I also present to you a list of the stockholders of record as of the close of business on April 2639. A duplicate record has been on file at the company's principal place of business for the last ten days immediately prior to the date of this meeting, and has been available for inspection by any stockholder during that period at any time during normal business hours.
Thank you, Morrissey. If any stockholder would like to ask a question or make a statement during the formal part of this meeting, please post your question or comment online in accordance with the online instructions. I requested that our comments be brief to allow other stockholders the opportunity to comment and the comments be directly related to the proposals under consideration. I hereby appoint Henry Farrell to act as Inspector of Elections for this meeting. He will tabulate the voting results.
The inspector of elections has signed his oath of office, which we filed with the minutes of this meeting. Mister Farrell, do we have a quorum present? Mister Steinberg, of the 155,055,303 shares of common stock entitled to vote at the meeting, at least a majority of the shares are represented either in person or by proxy, and therefore, a quorum is present. Thank you. We may now proceed to transact the business for which this meeting has been called.
Let me briefly describe the voting procedures. Stockholders who have previously turned in their proxy or voted by any of the other available means described in the proxy statement and do not want to change their vote, do not need to take any further actions. Your votes will be counted. It is now eleven zero six. If you are eligible to vote and have not submitted your proxy or if you want to change your vote, the polls are open.
You can cast your vote via the annual meeting web portal during the meeting until polls are closed. Our first item of business is the election of directors. At this meeting, we will be voting on two nominees for class two directors to serve for a term of three years, as stated in the proxy statement. In accordance with the bylaws, your directors have nominated Susan Cosgrove and Wynn Newger to be elected to serve as class two directors. The company's bylaws require that a stockholder provide in advance notice to the company of stockholder intent to nominate persons as directors.
No such notice was received. Accordingly, I declare the nominations for directors closed. The board of directors unanimously recommended that stockholders vote in favor of these nominees. I move for the election.
I second the motion.
Anyone who is voting by electronic means, please do so now. The second item of business is the ratification of E and Y Ernest and Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 3139. The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, which is comprised entirely of independent directors, appointed Ernest and Young as the company's independent registered public accounting firm to audit the company's financial statements for the fiscal year ending December 3139. Stockholder ratification is not required by the company bylaws. However, the Board of Directors is submitting this to the stockholders for ratification as a matter of good corporate governance.
If the stockholders do not approve the election of Ernst and Young as the company's independent registered public accounting firm, the audit committee will reconsider the appointment.
I move for ratification.
I second the motion.
Anyone who is voting by electronic means, please do so now. The third item of business is the vote on an advisory resolution to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement pursuant to item four zero two of Regulation S K. The Board of Directors unanimously recommended that stockholders vote in favor of this proposal.
I move to approve on an advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement pursuant to item four zero two of Regulation S K.
I second the motion. Anyone who is voting by electronic means, please do so now. We will now close the poll. It is 11:10 on 06/18/2009, and the polls for each matter to be voted on at this meeting are now closed. No additional proxies or votes and no changes or revocations will be accepted.
I will now ask the inspector of elections to report on the voting results. I remind everyone that these results are based on the votes received prior to the meeting and that the final numbers will be verified and reported by the inspector of elections and recorded in minutes. Is the inspector prepared to announce the preliminary voting results? Yes. With regards to proposal one, a majority of the votes cast have been voted in favor of the elections of the persons nominated.
With regard to proposal two, a majority of the votes cast have been voted in favor of the ratification of the appointment of Ernst and Young as the company's independent registered accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 3139. With regard to proposal three, a majority of the votes cast have been voted in favor of an advisory resolution to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers. Thank you. The final results will be included in our reports filed by the SEC. There being no other matters for consideration at this meeting, I will entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting.
I so move.
I second the motion.
The formal part of this meeting is now adjourned. At this time, I'd like to give everyone a chance to ask questions. Ms. Frankenthaler, please recite our cautionary statement.
The following answers may contain forward looking statements within the meaning of Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward looking statements, including, but not limited to, the risks set forth in the Risk Factors section in WisdomTree's Annual Report on Form 10 ks for the year ended December 3138, and quarterly report on Form 10 Q for the quarter ended March 3139. WisdomTree assumes no duty and does not undertake to update any forward looking statements.
Are there any questions? No. As there are no questions, if there are no further questions or since there are no questions, we will conclude the twenty nineteen Annual Stockholders Meeting. Thank you for attending and for your commitment to WisdomTree.