PRELIMINARY PROXY STATEMENT – SUBJECT TO COMPLETION
THE ANNUAL MEETING
The 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of AEye, Inc. (“AEye,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) will take place on [•], 2025, at [•] a.m., Pacific Time, at [•].
You may vote by telephone, over the Internet or by completing, signing, dating, and returning your WHITE universal proxy card as soon as possible in the enclosed postage prepaid envelope (if you requested a paper copy). If you need assistance with registration, voting, providing a proxy, or have any questions, please contact [•], our proxy solicitor assisting us in connection with the Annual Meeting, at [•].
VOTING RIGHTS
Stockholder of Record. If your shares are registered directly in your name with our transfer agent, Broadridge Financial Solutions, you are considered the “stockholder of record” with respect to those shares. The proxy materials will be sent to you by mail directly by us. As a stockholder of record, you may vote in person at the Annual Meeting or vote by proxy. Whether or not you plan to attend the Annual Meeting, we urge you to vote on the Internet or by phone or mail as instructed in the WHITE universal proxy card to ensure your vote is counted.
Beneficial Owner. If your shares are held in a stock brokerage account or by a bank or other nominee, you are considered the “beneficial owner” of shares held in street name. The organization holding your account is considered the stockholder of record for purposes of voting at our Annual Meeting. As a beneficial owner, you have the right to direct your broker, bank, or other agent on how to vote the shares in your account. Your brokerage firm, bank, or other agent will not be able to vote in the election of directors unless they have your voting instructions, so it is very important that you indicate your voting instructions to the institution holding your shares. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are also invited to attend our Annual Meeting. However, since you are not the stockholder of record, you may not vote your shares in person at our Annual Meeting unless you request and obtain a valid proxy from your broker, bank, or other agent.
To the extent that the Dissident Group provides proxy materials to a broker that holds shares for a beneficial owner, none of the matters to be voted on at the Annual Meeting will be considered a discretionary matter under the rules of the various regional and national exchanges of which such broker is a member (the “Broker Rules”), and all of the matters to be voted on at the Annual Meeting will be considered “non-routine” matters. In that case, a broker that is subject to the Broker Rules will not have authority to vote shares held by a beneficial owner without instructions from the beneficial owner on Proposals 1, 2, or 3. Further, the broker non-votes will not be counted for purposes of determining whether a quorum exists at the Annual Meeting. Therefore, if you are beneficial owner, we encourage you to instruct your broker how to vote your shares using the voting instruction form provided by your broker so that your vote can be counted.
However, for brokers that receive proxy materials only from the Company (and not from the Dissident Group), the broker will be entitled to vote shares held for a beneficial owner on routine matters, such as Proposal 2, without instructions from the beneficial owner of those shares, but the broker is not entitled to vote the shares on non-routine items, such as Proposal 1 and Proposal 3. Accordingly, in such a situation, if you receive proxy materials only from the Company and you do not submit any voting instructions to your broker, your broker may exercise discretion to vote your shares on Proposal 2, even in the absence of your instruction. If your shares are voted on Proposal 2, as directed by your broker, your shares will constitute “broker non-votes” on the non-routine proposals (i.e., Proposals 1 or Proposal 3). In the event your broker receives proxy materials only from the Company (and not from the Dissident Group), the “broker non-votes” will be counted for purposes of determining whether a quorum exists at the meeting. The voting instruction form provided by the broker holding your shares may also include information about how to submit your voting instructions over the Internet, if such options are available. The WHITE universal proxy card accompanying this Proxy Statement will provide information regarding Internet voting.
Only holders of the Company’s common stock (“common stock”) as recorded in our stock register at the close of business on [•], 2025, may vote at our Annual Meeting. On [•], 2025, there were [•] shares of common stock