EXTREME NETWORKS INC
For the period ended Sep 26, 2025. Filed Sep 26, 2025.
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Sep 26, 2025 · Filed Sep 26, 2025
Contents
Compensation Program Elements
The principal elements of our executive compensation program and their respective purposes are as follows:
| Element | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Base salary | Attract and retain talented employees. Reflects job responsibilities and serves as the primary element of fixed compensation and balance to performance-based risks. |
| Short-term incentives | Encourage and reward overall company performance relative to our current plans and objectives, particularly in the short term. |
| Long-term equity incentives | Promote the achievement of longer-term financial and strategic objectives. Encourage employee retention. Align the interests of our executives and stockholders by tying rewards to long term gains in stockholder value. |
| Change in control and severance benefits | Retain our executives during the pendency of a proposed change in control transaction. Avoid adverse impacts to the morale of our executives and of uncertainty regarding continued employment. Align the interests of our executives and stockholders in the event of a change in control. Assist with the recruitment of executives and other key employees. In the event of a change in control, double-trigger cash severance is limited to a multiple of two times target annual cash compensation for our CEO and one and a half times target annual cash compensation for the other officers. |
| Other benefits | Attract and retain talented employees or facilitate their focus on their duties to the Company. Provide health and welfare benefits with assurance of financial support in the event of illness or injury. Encourage retirement savings. Encourage additional equity ownership by employees. |
Base Salary -The base salary for each NEO initially is set at the time the NEO commences employment with the Company and is reviewed annually. In its annual review of NEO base salaries, the Compensation Committee considers the recommendations of our CEO, the performance of each NEO (as evaluated by our CEO, except with respect to his own performance), and a competitive market analysis prepared by Compensia using data gathered from the Company’s peer group with respect to base salary, total target cash compensation and target total direct compensation (which includes equity awards).
In July 2024, after taking into consideration the factors noted above, the Compensation Committee determined not to increase the annual base salaries of Mr. Meyercord, Mr. Rhodes, or Ms. Motiey for fiscal 2025.
Short-Term Cash Incentives
Extreme Incentive Plan -The Compensation Committee establishes a short-term cash incentive plan each year under our EIP, which is applicable to our employees (other than sales personnel on variable compensation plans), including all of our NEOs. The EIP is designed to reward Company performance relative to our current plans and objectives, particularly in the short term. The structure and elements of the plan are reviewed and set semi-annually based upon expectations for our business derived from
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our annual operating plan. This approach enables the Compensation Committee to select performance metrics that are appropriate in light of evolving market conditions and areas of near-term focus.
As in fiscal 2024, the EIP approved by the Compensation Committee for fiscal 2025 provided for semi-annual payouts based on the Company’s achievement of pre-established performance goals for each of the first and second halves of fiscal 2025. The Compensation Committee implements the short-term cash incentive plan through semi-annual performance targets to allow it to better set challenging, yet reasonable goals that take into account the current economic environment, the industry and the Company’s business. The semi-annual target levels for the performance metrics during fiscal 2025 were derived from the Company’s annual operating plan. The fiscal 2025 targets were lower than the first half fiscal 2024 targets, reflecting a more challenging business environment that started in the second half of fiscal 2024. The EIP achievement for each half of fiscal 2025 was less than 100%, indicating that the targets were chosen with rigor and linking pay to performance.
For fiscal 2025, the EIP was funded based on the achievement of pre-established Net Revenue, Bookings Annual Contract Value ("ACV") and EBITDA performance goals. During each half, Net Revenue was weighted at 30%, Bookings ACV was weighted at 30% and EBITDA was weighted at 40%. The threshold, target and maximum goals for each half of fiscal 2025 and their corresponding performance levels are set forth in the tables below. Achievement between threshold and target levels and between target and maximum levels is determined based on linear interpolation.
Bookings ACV represents the total annualized value of a contract between a company and its customer and is typically used in subscription-based businesses or service agreements.
EBITDA represents non-GAAP net income before interest expense, income tax expense and depreciation and amortization expense. Non-GAAP net income was calculated as GAAP net income, adjusted for amortization of intangibles, share-based compensation, restructuring charges, system transition costs, non-recurring litigation charges, debt refinancing charges and tax effect on non-GAAP adjustments. The Compensation Committee believed the adjustments used in calculating this metric better reflect how the Company measures its performance.
A GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation for non-GAAP performance measures under the EIP is provided in this proxy statement under the section"Non-GAAP Measures of Financial Performance -- GAAP to non-GAAP Reconciliation."
The threshold, target, and maximum goals of the EIP for July 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024 (the “First Half Performance Period”) and the Company’s corresponding performance levels are set forth in the table below.
| Bookings (ACV) ($millions) · Performance Level(% of Target) · Payout ScaleMultiplier · Net Revenue($ millions) · Performance Level(% of Target) · Payout ScaleMultiplier · EBITDA · Performance Level(% of Target) · Payout ScaleMultiplier | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <Threshold | $ | <436.4 | 0% | 0% | $ | <475.5 | 0% | 0% | $ | <70.2 | 0% | 0% | |||||||||||||
| Threshold | 436.4 | 85% | 50% | 475.5 | 85% | 50% | 70.2 | 75% | 50% | ||||||||||||||||
| Target | 513.4 | 100% | 100% | 559.4 | 100% | 100% | 93.6 | 100% | 100% | ||||||||||||||||
| Maximum | 616.1 | 120% | 150% | 671.3 | 120% | 150% | 131.0 | 140% | 150% | ||||||||||||||||
The Company’s actual achievement under the First Half Performance Period is set forth in the table below.
| Financial Metric | Target($ millions) | Actual($ millions) | Attainment | PerformanceScale | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookings (ACV) | $513.4 | $468.4 | 91.2% | 70.8% | 30% |
| Net Revenue | 559.4 | 548.6 | 98.1% | 93.5% | 30% |
| EBITDA | 93.6 | 103.9 | 111.0% | 113.7% | 40% |
Accordingly, the Compensation Committee approved a weighted payout for the First Half Performance Period of 94.8% of the target pool.
The threshold, target, and maximum goals of the EIP for January 1, 2025 through June 30, 2025 (the “Second Half Performance Period”) and their corresponding performance levels are set forth in the table below.
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| Bookings (ACV) ($millions) · Performance Level(% of Target) · Payout ScaleMultiplier · Net Revenue($ millions) · Performance Level(% of Target) · Payout ScaleMultiplier · EBITDA · Performance Level(% of Target) · Payout ScaleMultiplier | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <Threshold | $ | <485.8 | 0% | 0% | $ | <521.1 | 0% | 0% | $ | <91.1 | 0% | 0% | |||||
| Threshold | 485.8 | 85% | 50% | 521.1 | 85% | 50% | 91.1 | 75% | 50% | ||||||||
| Target | 571.5 | 100% | 100% | 613.0 | 100% | 100% | 121.4 | 100% | 100% | ||||||||
| Maximum | 685.8 | 120% | 150% | 735.6 | 120% | 150% | 170.0 | 140% | 150% | ||||||||
The Company’s actual achievement under the Second Half Performance Period is set forth in the table below.
| Financial Metric | Target($ millions) | Actual($ millions) | Attainment | PerformanceScale | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookings (ACV) | $571.5 | $540.7 | 94.6% | 82.1% | 30% |
| Net Revenue | 613.0 | 591.5 | 96.5% | 88.3% | 30% |
| EBITDA | 121.4 | 112.0 | 92.3% | 84.5% | 40% |
Accordingly, the Compensation Committee approved a weighted payout for the Second Half Performance Period of 84.9% of the target pool.
The table below reflects the short-term incentive compensation paid to each of our NEOs in fiscal 2025 under the EIP, as well as the target short-term cash incentive opportunity (expressed as a percentage of base salary) for each NEO. We believe the “at risk” portion of each NEO’s compensation package, such as the short-term incentives, should increase with the ability to affect Company performance, the role of the NEO and other market factors. This philosophy is reflected in the “target bonus as a percentage of base salary” that was approved by the Compensation Committee for each NEO as set forth below. For fiscal 2025, the Compensation Committee decided not to change Mr. Meyercord's, Mr. Rhodes', or Ms. Motiey's target bonuses as a percentage of their base salaries.
| Named Executive Officer | 1st Base PayCompensation | Target Bonusas % of Base Pay | 1st HalfPerf Factor | 1st Half EIP Paid | 2nd HalfBase Pay | Target Bonusas % of Base Pay | 2nd HalfPerf Factor | 2nd Half EIP Paid | Total EIP paid for FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward B. Meyercord | $420,000 | 130% | 94.8% | $517,608 | $420,000 | 130% | 84.9% | $463,554 | $981,162 |
| Kevin Rhodes | 250,000 | 85% | 94.8% | 201,450 | 250,000 | 85% | 84.9% | 180,413 | 381,863 |
| Katayoun ("Katy") Motiey | 242,500 | 70% | 94.8% | 160,923 | 242,500 | 70% | 84.9% | 144,118 | 305,041 |
Overall, for the full fiscal year, our NEOs received approximately 89.9% of their annual target short-term cash incentive opportunities.
Long-Term Equity Incentive Compensation
We provide equity awards under the Company’s Amended and Restated 2013 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Amended and Restated 2013 Equity Incentive Plan”) to our NEOs to promote the achievement of longer-term financial and strategic objectives, to encourage employee retention and to align the interests of our executive officers and of our stockholders. We have historically granted equity to NEOs in the form of performance-based awards and time-based awards.
The Compensation Committee believes that the RSUs and PSUs granted to our NEOs in fiscal 2025 provide appropriate retention incentives while maintaining a direct link between NEO compensation and stockholder value creation and continuing to hold our NEOs accountable to the Company’s performance and overall stockholder return. We believe that RSUs are an effective retention and incentivization tool because they fluctuate in value relative to our overall performance while retaining value even during a challenging economic environment, and provide a retentive effect to maintain our top talent. Meanwhile, PSUs provide a direct incentive to enhance stockholder value since they are earned based on performance targets related to stockholder return and/or stock price.
New Hire Awards- Generally, we grant equity awards to our new employees, including newly employed NEOs, in connection with the commencement of their employment to induce them to join us and to tie their long-term compensation to future increases in our stock price. The type of award, the aggregate amounts of such awards and the vesting terms of the new-hire awards granted to our NEOs are recommended by our CEO to the Chair of the Compensation Committee and are reviewed and approved by our Compensation Committee following consultation with our compensation consultants, Compensia, in consideration of such NEO’s
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ability to influence Company performance and such NEO’s prior experience. Our new hire equity awards are typically larger than the annual awards made to NEOs during their continued period of employment.
Annual Awards - We also make annual grants to our NEOs, with the goal of aligning the interests of management and our stockholders by providing continued incentives to our NEOs to retain strong executives and improve corporate performance. Awards granted to NEOs other than our CEO, including both the size and type of the award, are recommended to the Compensation Committee by our CEO. Compensia prepares a compensation market analysis with data gathered from the peer group in connection with this annual review and advises the Compensation Committee in connection with its review of our CEO’s recommendations. Compensia also advises the Compensation Committee on the size and type of the award to be granted to our CEO.
The Compensation Committee regularly evaluates Mr. Meyercord's role in the Company's growth and profitability, as well as the Company's relative TSR performance and absolute stock price performance. For fiscal 2025, the Compensation Committee reverted to its regular practice of making one-half of his total equity award performance-based (following enhanced two-thirds performance-based weighting for our CEO's equity awards in fiscal 2024, inclusive of the SLTI award which reflected one-third of his 2024 equity awards). This reversion to our regular practice of allocating one-half of total equity to performance-based equity coincided with a reduction in the aggregate value granted to our CEO in fiscal 2025 relative to fiscal 2024 and no new SLTI award granted in fiscal 2025. We believe the overall design of the equity-based compensation awarded to Mr. Meyercord for fiscal 2025 appropriately balances driving long-term performance and program durability by including both time vesting RSUs and relative performance-based awards for fiscal 2025, with the outstanding fiscal 2024 SLTI PSUs as a factor in his long-term compensation.
In fiscal year 2025, the Compensation Committee approved grants of RSUs and PSUs for our NEOs. The number of shares subject to each RSU and PSU award (at target) was determined by dividing the target grant value of each award by the greater of (i) closing trading price of our stock on the date of the grant or (ii) $12.00. The RSUs vest on a three-year schedule, with one-third of the RSUs vesting on the first anniversary of the vesting commencement date and 1/12th of the RSUs vesting on each quarterly anniversary thereafter, subject to the executive’s continued service to the Company. The PSU awards granted to all NEOs in fiscal 2025, comprising half of the total target shares granted to NEOs, may be earned based on the Company’s total shareholder return (“TSR”) relative to the Russell 2000 Index (“Index”) over an overall three-year performance period with an overall payout range of 25% of target to 150% of target. While the opportunity to earn any above-target portion of the award is based on three-year performance, executives have the opportunity to earn up to one-third of the target number of shares subject to the award after each of the first and second years of the performance period based on one-year and two-year relative TSR, respectively. At the end of the full three-year period, there is an opportunity to earn up to 150% of the full target number of shares subject to each award based on the three-year TSR relative to the Index, less any shares earned for years one and two. For each performance period, the target number of shares will be earned if the Company’s TSR equals that of the Index, with linear scaling for performance below or above target based on a two-to-one factor (i. e., the number of shares earned will increase by 2% of target for each 1% the Company’s TSR exceeds the Index or the number of shares earned will decrease by 2% of target for each 1% the Company’s TSR is below the Index). No payout is earned if the Company's TSR is more than 37.5% below the Index, and the payout is capped if the Company's TSR exceeds the Index by more than 25%. We believe the design of these PSUs provides a strong, long-term performance orientation given that the upside opportunity is only provided for strong three-year relative TSR performance and any portion earned based on one- or two-year relative TSR performance is capped at 100% of target of one-third of the overall award.
Performance-Based Awards with On-going Performance Periods During Fiscal 2025 - During fiscal 2025, performance-based awards granted in fiscal 2022, 2023 and 2024 were outstanding.
August 2021 PSUs -In July 2021, the Compensation Committee approved grants of PSUs to Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey that followed the same design as the fiscal 2025 awards as described above under “—Long-Term Equity Compensation—Annual Awards.”
On August 16, 2022, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was exceeded for the first measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the one-year measurement period was 7%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of (17)%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey earned 100% of the target portion of the award for year one, which is 33% of the original target shares granted.
On August 16, 2023, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was exceeded for the second measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the two-year measurement period was 161%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of (12)%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey earned 100% of the target portion of the award for year two, which is 33% of the original target shares granted.
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On August 16, 2024, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was exceeded for the third and final year measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the full three-year measurement period was 25.65%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of (3.66)%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey earned 100% of the target portion of the award for year three, which is 33% of the original target shares granted, plus the full maximum performance potential amount, which, including the portions previously earned, resulted in an overall payout at the maximum of 150% of the original target shares granted.
August 2022 PSUs - In July 2022, the Compensation Committee approved grants of PSUs to Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey that followed the same design as the fiscal 2025 awards described above under “—Long-Term Equity Compensation—Annual Awards.”
On August 16, 2023, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was exceeded for the first measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the one-year measurement period was 147%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of 6%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey have earned 100% of the target portion of the award for year one, which is 33% of the original target shares granted.
On August 16, 2024, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was exceeded for the second measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the two-year measurement period was 19.04%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of 17.16%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey have earned 100% of the target portion of the award for year two, which is 33% of the original target shares granted.
On August 15, 2025, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was exceeded for the third and final year measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the full three-year measurement period was 59.9%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of 22.38%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey earned 100% of the target portion of the award for year three, which is 33% of the original target shares granted, plus the full maximum performance potential amount, which, including the portions previously earned, resulted in an overall payout at the maximum of 150% of the original target shares granted.
May 2023 PSUs- In May 2023, in connection with Mr. Rhodes' hire, the Compensation Committee approved grants of PSUs to Mr. Rhodes that followed the same design as the fiscal 2025 awards described above under “—Long-Term Equity Compensation—Annual Awards.”
On May 31, 2024, the Compensation Committee certified that the minimum performance target for these PSU awards was not met for the first measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the one-year measurement period was (35.08)%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of 15.38%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Rhodes did not earn any of the target portion of the award for year one.
On May 30, 2025, the Compensation Committee certified that the minimum performance target for these PSU awards was met for the second measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the two-year measurement period was (16.70)%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of 13.90%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Rhodes earned 39% of the target portion of the award for year two, which is 13% of the original target shares granted.
August 2023 PSUs - In July 2023, the Compensation Committee approved grants of PSUs to Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey that followed the same design as the fiscal 2025 awards described above under “—Long-Term Equity Compensation—Annual Awards.”
On August 16, 2024, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was not met for the first measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the one-year measurement period was (51.86)%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of 10.43%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey have not earned any of the target portion of the award for year one.
On August 15, 2025, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was not met for the second measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the two-year measurement period was (35.34)%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of 15.35%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey have not earned any of the target portion of the award for year two.
August 2023 SLTI PSUs - In July 2023, the Compensation Committee approved an SLTI PSU program pursuant to which Mr. Meyercord was granted an award of SLTI PSUs with a grant date of August 15, 2023, The SLTI PSUs use the compound annual growth rate of our stock price as the performance criterion, and may be earned if the Company's 30-trading day average stock
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price equals or exceeds $41.38 by the third anniversary of grant date, or, if not achieved by the third anniversary, if the Company's 30 trading day average stock price equals or exceeds $46.96 by the fourth anniversary of grant date. Additional details regarding this award are provided in our 2024 proxy statement.
As of June 30, 2025 the Company's stock price had not met the applicable Stock Price Target, and no portion of this award has been earned.
August 2024 PSUs - In July 2024, the Compensation Committee approved grants of PSUs to Mr. Meyercord, Mr. Rhodes, and Ms. Motiey that followed the same design as the fiscal 2025 awards described above under “—Long-Term Equity Compensation—Annual Awards.”
On August 15, 2025, the Compensation Committee certified that the performance target for these PSU awards was met for the first measurement period, as the Company’s total stock return for the one-year measurement period was 34.99%, as compared to the Index TSR performance of 4.68%. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Meyercord, Mr. Rhodes, and Ms. Motiey earned 100% of the target portion of the award for year one, which is 33% of the original target shares granted.
Change in Control and Severance Arrangements
Each of our NEOs is employed at-will. However, from time to time, we implement plans or enter into agreements that would provide benefits payable to certain employees, including our NEOs, in connection with qualifying terminations of their employment or a change in control of the Company. These benefits assist us in our recruiting efforts and are competitive compared to our peer group. Additionally, without change in control benefits, our NEOs may be distracted by the transaction process or may terminate their employment prior to the closing of the change in control, particularly if they do not wish to remain with, or believe they will not be retained by, the remaining entity after the transaction closes. Such departures could jeopardize the consummation of a potential transaction, or our interests should the transaction not close. The Compensation Committee believes that these benefits therefore serve to enhance stockholder value and align our NEOs’ interest with those of our stockholders.
Our agreements with our NEOs and our change in control and severance arrangements are described under “Summary of Employment and Other Agreements” below. The estimated potential payments that each NEO would have received if a change in control of the Company or termination of employment had occurred on June 30, 2025 are set forth under “Estimated Payments Upon Termination Without Cause or Upon Change in Control” below.
Other Benefits
Generally, the Company does not provide perquisites or other personal benefits to our NEOs, except in situations where we believe it is appropriate to assist an individual in the performance of his or her duties, to make our NEOs more efficient and effective, and for recruitment and retention purposes. We do not provide a defined benefit retirement pension plan, deferred compensation plan, or the use of company vehicles to our NEOs.
During fiscal 2025, each of our NEOs who joined the Company before May 4, 2016, currently only Mr. Meyercord and Ms. Motiey, were eligible to receive a special benefit in the event of their death or disability, which includes a cash payment and full vesting of any outstanding time-based equity awards. See “Summary of Employment and Other Agreements” and “Executive Death and Disability Benefits” for more information on this death and disability benefit. This additional benefit is intended to make sure that the income provided to a NEO in the event of their disability is representative of their pre-disability earnings at the same percentage as other employees.
We provide other customary benefits to our NEOs that we provide to all of our full-time U.S. based employees. Those benefits include medical, dental, vision and prescription drug insurance coverage; flexible spending contribution plan; disability insurance; life insurance; business travel insurance; a Section 401(k) savings plan with employer match up to a predetermined percentage; educational assistance; employee assistance program; employee stock purchase plan; and paid holidays. We do not provide a fixed vacation allowance for NEOs and other U.S. employees, as they may be required to travel extensively and are required to be available to us even while vacationing.
All future practices with respect to perquisites or other personal benefits will be subject to review and approval by our Compensation Committee.
See the "Summary Compensation Table" for more information on the benefits described above.
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Tax Considerations
Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code disallows a tax deduction to publicly held companies for compensation in excess of $1 million paid to certain covered employees, which has historically generally included all NEOs. While our Board and Compensation Committee may take the deductibility of compensation into account when making compensation decisions, we believe that maintaining the discretion to provide compensation that is non-deductible allows us to provide compensation tailored to the needs of our Company and our NEOs and is an important part of our responsibilities and benefits our stockholders.
Compensation-Related Risk Evaluation
The Compensation Committee has reviewed compensation-related risks and does not believe the Company’s compensation programs encourage excessive or inappropriate risk-taking or create risks that are reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company for the following reasons:
The base salary and cash bonus components of the compensation program are designed to provide income independent of the Company’s stock price performance so that employees will not focus exclusively on stock price performance to the detriment of other important business metrics.
We generally utilize formulaic annual and long-term incentive plan awards instead of discretionary payments. The cash bonus and equity components of compensation are designed to reward both short- and long-term company performance, which discourages employees from taking actions that focus solely on the short-term success of the Company.
Because EBITDA performance was used in addition to revenue and bookings for determining cash bonus payments under the fiscal 2025 short-term incentive program, our NEOs and other employees were encouraged to take a balanced approach that focused on generating corporate revenue while taking into account operating expenses.
The Company’s EBITDA performance target under the EIP is applicable to our executives and employees (other than most sales employees) alike, regardless of functional group.
The Company caps the performance-based cash incentives and performance-based equity awards for our executives at 150% of target, which discourages excessive risk taking.
The majority of PSUs granted to NEOs are tied to relative stock return performance, and the SLTI PSUs previously granted to our CEO, are tied to stock price performance, resulting in a diverse and blended set of pre-established goals when combined with other components of the compensation package.
Senior executives, including our Chief Commercial Officer, do not participate in the Sales Compensation Plan and are thus limited to the EIP payouts so they are incentivized to balance both revenue and profitability, which discourages excessive risk taking by our executives. We have internal controls and oversight on plan payouts and exceptions.
Our executives and other employees are entitled to reasonable severance payments and benefits that are consistent with payments and benefits provided by other public companies.
The Company has adopted a recoupment policy that, under certain circumstances, requires it to recover incentive-based compensation paid to current and former executives.
Hedging Policy
Under our insider trading policy, we prohibit certain employees deemed to be insiders under the policy, including all executive officers and directors, from hedging the economic risk of ownership of our stock. Similarly, our insider trading policy prohibits pledging Company securities as collateral for a loan, except with respect to cashless exercises of stock options under our equity plans.
Recoupment Policy or Claw-Back Policy
Effective October 2, 2023, the Compensation Committee adopted the Extreme Networks, Inc. Policy for Recovery of Erroneously Awarded Compensation (the "Recoupment Policy"), which is intended to comply with SEC and Nasdaq listing requirements. The Recoupment Policy applies to all of our current and former executive officers within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This policy will apply in the event of a restatement of financial results due to the material noncompliance of the Company with any financial reporting requirement under the U.S. federal securities laws that (a) is material to the previously issued financial statements or (b) would result in a material misstatement if the error were corrected in the current period or left uncorrected in the current period.
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The Compensation Committee will have the discretion to determine the manner in which a clawback or recovery of such erroneously awarded compensation will be effected, for example, by offsetting the erroneously awarded compensation against other compensation payable by the Company.
Equity Grant Practices
Wedo not time the granting of equity awards with any favorable or unfavorable news released by the Company. Wedo not take material nonpublic information into account when determining the timing and terms of equity awards or for the purpose of affecting the value of executive compensation. Proximity of any awards to an earnings announcement or other market events is coincidental. In the event material nonpublic information were to become known to the Compensation Committee before the grant of an equity award, the Compensation Committee would consider the information and use its business judgment to determine whether to delay the grant to avoid any appearance of impropriety. During fiscal 2025, we did not grant any stock options or option-like instruments.
Stock Ownership Guidelines
As of May 17, 2022, the Compensation Committee has required that each NEO, other than our CEO, should own a minimum number of shares valued at two times (2X) his or her annual salary, and that our CEO own a minimum number of shares valued at five times (5X) his or her annual salary. Unearned appreciation or performance awards are not considered when determining whether the ownership guidelines have been met. Each NEO has five years from his or her date of hire, date designated as an NEO, or from the date of an increase in the ownership values, as applicable, to attain the minimum ownership level.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.