The Forum meetings are intended to provide investors with an opportunity to ask questions and exchange views, just as they might at a conventional shareholders meeting conducted by a company. But the timing is sufficiently in advance of Amazon's annual meeting to permit consideration of the information before voting. (As practices have evolved during the past century, the vast majority of shareholder votes are decided in advance of the annual meeting and cast by proxy, so that any information presented at the meeting itself is too late to be of real use.)

The meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 26th, will focus on what information is needed for shareholders to justify their reliance on the candidates to perform the duties of directors. This could include past acts as well as future commitments, facts as well as views. Subjects could range from general positions on policies or strategies to specific explanations of Amazon's quarterly report scheduled for release on April 24th. The objective of this meeting will be to define information requests to be submitted to the candidates.

Candidates will be invited to attend or otherwise present their responses at the meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 10th.

Open to the public and the press, the meetings are part of the continuing NYSSA Forum, "Amazon.com: Responsibility for Investment Information," initiated in June 2000 as a case study to examine what the evolving marketplace expects of company executives and directors, auditors, regulators, journalists, and others who share a common interest with securities analysts in providing information for investment decisions. The Forum is conducted by NYSSA's Committee for Corporate Governance and Shareholder Rights, chaired by Peter F. Brennan, and co-sponsored by Gary Lutin. Additional information about other Forum programs can be found here.