Starwood 2007 Annual Report Download - page 14

How can I get electronic access to the proxy materials?
The Notice will provide you with instructions regarding how to:
• View our proxy materials for the Annual Meeting on the Internet; and
• Instruct us to send our future proxy materials to you electronically by email.
Choosing to receive your future proxy materials by email will save us the cost of printing and mailing
documents to you and will reduce the impact of our annual stockholders’ meetings on the environment. If you
choose to receive future proxy materials by email, you will receive an email next year with instructions containing a
link to those materials and a link to the proxy voting site. Your election to receive proxy materials by email will
remain in effect until you terminate it.
Who is entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting?
If you were a stockholder of the Company at the close of business on March 3, 2008 (the “Record Date”), you
are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting. You have one vote for each share of common stock of
the Company (“Shares”) you held at the close of business on the Record Date on each matter that is properly
submitted to a vote at the Annual Meeting, including Shares:
• Held directly in your name as the stockholder of record,
• Held for you in an account with a broker, bank or other nominee, and
• Credited to your account in the Company’s Savings and Retirement Plan (the “Savings Plan”).
On the Record Date there were 187,029,468 Shares outstanding and entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting and
there were 17,922 record holders of Shares. The Shares are the only outstanding class of voting securities of the
Company.
Who may attend the Annual Meeting?
Only stockholders of record, or their duly authorized proxies, may attend the Annual Meeting. Registration
and seating will begin at 9:00 a.m. To gain admittance, you must present valid picture identification, such as a
driver’s license or passport. If you hold Shares in “street name” (through a broker or other nominee), you will also
need to bring a copy of a brokerage statement (in a name matching your photo identification) reflecting your stock
ownership as of the Record Date. If you are a representative of a corporate or institutional stockholder, you must
present valid photo identification along with proof that you are a representative of such stockholder.
Please note that cameras, recording devices and other electronic devices will not be permitted at the Annual
Meeting.
How many Shares must be present to hold the Annual Meeting?
The presence in person or by proxy of holders of a majority of the outstanding Shares entitled to vote at the
Annual Meeting constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business. Your Shares are counted as present at the
meeting if you:
• are present in person at the Annual Meeting, or
• have properly executed and submitted a proxy card, or authorized a proxy over the telephone or the Internet,
prior to the Annual Meeting.
Abstentions and broker non-votes are counted for purposes of determining whether a quorum is present at the
Annual Meeting.
If a quorum is not present when the Annual Meeting is convened, or if for any other reason the presiding officer
believes that the Annual Meeting should be adjourned, the Annual Meeting may be adjourned by the presiding
officer. If a motion is made to adjourn the Annual Meeting, the persons named as proxies on the enclosed proxy card
will have discretion to vote on such adjournment all Shares for which such persons have voting authority.
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