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Regulatory filings just revealed that Nvidia earmarked a $4-million bonus for its CEO, Jensen Huang, if the company hits specific financial targets by January 31, 2027. This is a huge amount for the average person, but, according to Reuters , the leather-clad executive’s compensation package for 2025 totaled to $49.9 million, with 77% of its value, around $39.8 million, made up of stock awards. This means that the tech executive’s financial incentive to hit targets is less than 10% of his gross annual salary.
Mr. Huang’s bonus will be paid out in cash, allowing him to spend it as he pleases (like buying a Mercedes Benz for his parents ) without affecting his ownership or the future value of his shares. But it’s actually the stock awards that are driving his wealth, putting Jensen among the 10 richest people on the planet, with his value estimated to be around $150 billion. In fact, he sold 6 million Nvidia shares in June of last year, which was announced about three months earlier, and is estimated to be worth around $925 million. This makes the $4-million bonus a drop in the bucket of what he could potentially make in a year by selling some of his holdings.
Jensen laments buying Mercedes for his parents with Nvidia stock that would be worth $1.33 billion today
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to visit China as company prepares to start H200 shipments to the country
Nvidia posts record $215 billion annual revenue in latest quarterly earnings report
Even though Huang has been at the helm of Nvidia since its founding, he didn’t get consistent salary increases. In fact, he only received a hike in his base pay last year , after staying at the same level for a decade, and that was only increased so that his compensation would stay at a similar level as his peers. Nvidia’s filing did not mention any increases for Jensen this year, despite the company reporting record-breaking annual revenues, in the face of challenges in China. So, if the CEO can keep this momentum, he’ll get that 7-digit bonus as part of his reward. But with Jensen Huang owning about 3.5% of Nvidia, a positive market performance should be more than enough to make up for the 'paltry' $4-million bonus he’ll get for hitting the company’s fiscal targets.
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- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/jensen-huang-set-to-receive-usd4-million-bonus-from-nvidia-0-002-percent-of-his-usd164-billion-net-worth-a-small-incentive-for-one-of-the-richest-people-on-earth#main
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