Nvidia’s remarkable stock surge mints three board billionaires
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Nvidia’s stock surged 171 per cent in 2024 amid seemingly insatiable demand for AI chips.
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San Francisco - Nvidia’s banner year supercharged chief executive Jensen Huang’s net worth to new heights.
It also boosted three of the chipmaker’s longest-serving board members into the billionaire ranks in a virtually unheard-of feat of wealth creation.
Mr Tench Coxe, on Nvidia’s board since its start-up days, is worth US$5.4 billion (S$7.4 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is valuing his fortune for the first time.
With more than 32 million shares, he is the company’s third-largest individual shareholder.
His billionaire peers include Mr Mark Stevens, who is the 298th-richest person in the world with a fortune of US$9.3 billion; and Mr Harvey Jones, who holds a US$1 billion position in the company and has sold more than US$300 million worth of shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
It is rare for a company to mint multiple billionaires, let alone those who are directors rather than co-founders or part of a family dynasty.
Nvidia’s stock surged 171 per cent in 2024, making it the second-best performer on the S&P 500 Index amid seemingly insatiable demand for the chips used in artificial intelligence.
It is a unique case for a board of directors because of the company’s growth, not because of how they were compensated, said Virginia Tech finance professor Felipe Cabezon, who researches executive and director compensation.
Directors receive equity awards as an incentive to grow the company and improve its performance and if they succeed, they will create value for shareholders, themselves included, Prof Cabezon said.
In this case, all three men have been on Nvidia’s board for more than 30 years.
“What we observe here is exactly that story,” he said. “Basically, it’s a happy ending.”
Nvidia’s three billionaire directors plus Mr Huang have a combined net worth of more than US$130 billion, making the chipmaker’s board one of the top 10 wealthiest in the world, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Mr Huang is currently the 12th-richest person in the world with a fortune of US$114.4 billion, up more than US$70 billion in 2024 alone, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
A fifth board member, Mr Brooke Seawell, could soon join Mr Stevens, Mr Coxe and Mr Jones in the billionaire ranks. He currently holds a nearly US$700 million position in Nvidia after serving on its board since 1997.
Like Nvidia’s, other rich boards typically contain a wealthy founder but they also tend to include members whose fortunes stem from other ventures.
Tesla, for example, has the wealthiest board with a combined net worth of at least US$442 billion.
Besides Mr Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, Tesla’s ultra-rich directors include billionaire Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and Mr James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. BLOOMBERG
