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TO BE VOTED ON AT THE MEETING
Shareowner Proposal No. 1
Evelyn Y. Davis, Watergate
Office Building, 2600 Virginia Avenue, N.W., Suite 215, Washington, D.C. 20037,
has notified us that she intends to present the following proposal at this
year’s meeting: “Resolved: That the stockholders of General
Electric, assembled in Annual Meeting in person and by proxy, hereby request
the Board of Directors to take the necessary steps to provide for cumulative
voting in the election of directors, which means each stockholder shall be
entitled to as many votes as shall equal the number of shares he or she owns
multiplied by the number of directors to be elected, and he or she may cast all
of such votes for a single candidate, or any two or more of them as he or she
may see fit.
“Reasons: Many
states have mandatory cumulative voting, so do National Banks. In addition,
many corporations have adopted cumulative voting. Last year the owners of
1,796,777,095 shares, representing approximately 30.5% of shares voting, voted
FOR this proposal.
“If you agree, please mark your proxy FOR this resolution.”
Our board of directors recommends a vote against this proposal.
Like most major corporations, we provide that each share of common
stock shall be entitled to one vote for each nominee for director. This
procedure ensures that each director is elected by shareowners representing a
majority of all shares voted. It has served us well. The proposal would alter
this procedure and permit shareowners representing less than a majority of all
shares to elect a director. Because each director oversees the management of the
company for the benefit of all shareowners, we believe that changing the
current voting procedure would not be in the best interests of all shareowners
and therefore recommend a vote against the proposal.
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