Nvidia’s stock fell on Thursday, causing billionaire co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s net worth to drop by $9.5 billion in a single day.
Given the steep drop in Nvidia’s share price, Huang, 62, is currently valued at an estimated $150.1 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires ranking.
Huang, a co-founder of Nvidia in 1993, has guided the business to become a dominant force in graphics processing, initially in gaming and then in AI.
Due to its rapid expansion, the company’s market worth surpassed $3 trillion in 2024, placing it among the most valuable companies globally. In 1999, Huang, who holds roughly 3% of Nvidia, went public.
Huang, who was born in Taiwan, was raised in Thailand before his family sent him and his brother to the US during political instability.
Huang, a Stanford and Oregon State University alumnus, has given $50 million to Oregon State for a research facility named after him and $30 million to Stanford’s engineering center.
Further insights
Nvidia’s shares slumped 8.5% on Thursday after the firm’s first-quarter gross margin prediction missed expectations, even though the business reported solid fourth-quarter earnings.
Nvidia predicted a 71% gross margin, lower than Wall Street’s forecast of 72.1% and lower than the 73% margin from the prior quarter.
Analysts attributed the company’s cautious guidance to growing competition and rising expenses. As it increases shipments of its newest Blackwell AI processors to satisfy demand, Nvidia is paying expedited fees, according to JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur.
Despite the margin issues, Nvidia’s $39.3 billion in revenue and $0.89 earnings per share surpassed Wall Street’s projections. The corporation projected $43 billion in revenue for the first quarter, somewhat higher than the $42.3 billion experts had predicted.
What To Note
- However, the drop in stock indicates that some investors are still wary. According to CFO Colette Kress, Nvidia’s Blackwell AI GPUs, which were predicted to generate “several billion dollars” in sales, produced $11 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter, the company’s quickest product ramp-up ever.
- On Thursday, the steep decline in Nvidia’s stock pushed the company’s market capitalization back below $3 trillion, below both Apple and Microsoft. Over the last five trading sessions, it extended its losses to almost 14%.
- Tesla dropped 3%, bringing its year-to-date slump to 30%, along with other notable tech firms. Selling pressure on tech stocks, generally due to market uncertainty, also caused Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms to decline.
