Broker Non-votes. Shares with respect to which a broker indicates that it does not have authority to vote on a matter will be considered “broker non-votes.” Broker non-votes occur on a matter when a bank, broker or other nominee is not permitted by applicable regulatory requirements to vote on that matter without instruction from the owner of the shares and no instruction is given. Absent instructions from you, your broker may vote your shares on the ratification of the appointment of our independent auditors (Proposal No. 3), but may not vote your shares on any of the other proposals (Proposals No. 1, 2 and 4).
Vote Standard for Election of Directors. In an uncontested election, such as the election to be held at our Annual Meeting (Proposal No. 1), a nominee for director will be elected to the Board by a majority of the votes cast with respect to the nominee. You may vote for any one or more nominees, against any one or more nominees or abstain from voting with respect to any one or more nominees. Shares that are voted to abstain with respect to any one or more nominees and broker non-votes will not be counted as votes cast and, therefore, will have no effect on the outcome of the voting for directors. If an incumbent nominee does not receive a majority of the votes cast in an uncontested election, our by-laws require that director to tender his or her resignation and the Nominating and Governance Committee, or such other committee designated by the Board, to consider whether to accept or reject that resignation. The Board will act on the committee’s recommendation and publicly disclose its decision.
Vote Standard for the Adoption of Other Proposals. A majority of the votes cast is required to approve each of the other proposals (Proposals No. 2, 3 and 4) to be voted on at the Annual Meeting. For each such proposal, you may vote for, against or abstain. Shares that are voted to abstain with respect to any one or more of these matters and broker non-votes, to the extent there are any for such proposals, will not be counted as votes cast and, therefore, will have no effect on the outcome of the voting for these proposals. See above under “Broker Non-votes” for more information regarding broker non-votes.
Confidentiality. We follow a policy of confidentiality regarding the voting of shares. Under this policy, all proxies, ballots and voting tabulations that identify how an individual shareholder has voted at the Annual Meeting will be kept confidential from us, except where disclosure is required by applicable law, a shareholder expressly requests disclosure, or in the case of a contested proxy solicitation. Proxy tabulators and inspectors of election will be employees of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. or another third party and not our employees.
We know of no other matters to be brought before the Annual Meeting. If other matters should properly come before the meeting, proxies will be voted on these matters in accordance with the best judgment of the persons appointed as proxies.
Cost of Proxy Solicitation. We will bear all costs in connection with the solicitation of proxies for the Annual Meeting. We intend to request brokerage houses, custodians, nominees and others who hold our common stock in their names to solicit proxies from the persons who beneficially own the stock, and we will reimburse these brokerage houses, custodians, nominees and others for their out-of-pocket expenses in connection therewith. We have engaged Innisfree M&A Incorporated to solicit proxies for us, at an anticipated cost of approximately $15,000. In addition to the use of the mail, solicitation may be made by Innisfree or our employees by telephone, over the Internet, by e-mail or by other electronic transmission.
Householding. To reduce the expenses of delivering duplicate proxy materials, we may take advantage of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “householding” rules that permit us to deliver only one set of proxy materials to shareholders who share an address, unless otherwise requested. If you share an address with another shareholder and have received only one set of proxy materials, you may request a separate copy of these materials at no cost to you by contacting us at Loews Corporation, Attn: Corporate Secretary, 9 West 57th Street, New York, New York 10019 or at (212) 521-2000. For future annual meetings, you may request separate voting materials, or request that we send only one set of proxy materials to you if you are receiving multiple copies, by calling or writing to us at the phone number and address given above.
