CORNING, N.Y. -- Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW - News) today announced that the underwriters have exercised their option to purchase an additional $75 million of shares of Series C Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock, in addition to the $500 million they purchased from the company on July 31, 2002. Each preferred share has a par value of $100, pays an annual dividend rate of 7.0% and is mandatorily convertible into between 50.813 and 62.5 shares of Corning's common stock on August 16, 2005. These preferred shares were issued under Corning's existing $5 billion universal shelf registration statement. The book-running managers were Salomon Smith Barney, JPMorgan and Goldman, Sachs & Co. This represents a new financing by Corning. The offering was made by means of a prospectus supplement to a prospectus that is part of Corning's universal shelf registration statement previously filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and declared effective in March 2001. Corning Inc.