Jensen Huang will forfeit about US$108 million (S$139 million) in unvested equity compensation following his resignation, but this represents only a small fraction of his total wealth.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the forfeited equity awards amount to about 0.08% of his net worth. The index estimates Huang’s wealth at US$138.4 billion.
Nvidia’s equity compensation policy stipulates that unvested restricted stock units will be cancelled once an executive’s continuous service ends. Huang holds about 346,000 such units and would receive about 310,000 shares under the company’s equity incentive plan if it met certain performance targets.
Unlike many other technology chief executives, Huang derives almost all his wealth from his holdings of Nvidia common stock, rather than stock options or other forms of equity compensation. According to the Bloomberg index, Huang owns about 3.5% of the voting shares in the Santa Clara, California-based company. This stake accounts for nearly 97% of his wealth.
As Nvidia has only one class of shares, Huang has no special voting rights.
Huang, 63, is a co-founder of Nvidia and resigned after two extramarital affairs came to light. His annual cash compensation over the past two years was about US$7.5 million, a negligible sum compared with his net worth.
His departure nevertheless came at an immediate cost. Nvidia shares plunged as much as 14% in New York before paring their losses to close down 4.3% at US$166.19, wiping more than US$6 billion off Huang’s net worth.
