NVIDIA Stock Soars 3450%
Employees Receiving Stock Compensation Also See Wealth Increase
An analysis suggests that most employees who joined Nvidia, the AI 'blue chip' company vying for the world's largest market capitalization, five years ago are likely millionaires.
On the 19th (local time), the U.S. IT media outlet Benzinga reported that among Nvidia employees with more than five years of long-term service, millionaires are emerging one after another. The secret lies in the company stock granted to employees of U.S. IT companies.
According to the media, Nvidia employees can receive about half of their base salary in stock if they meet certain requirements. This stock is called Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). Most employees are known to prefer stock over cash. Additionally, stock options are included in the compensation system for middle managers.
Considering Nvidia's soaring stock price, the media estimated that the majority of employees who joined Nvidia five years ago and are still working there likely earned an annual income exceeding $1 million (approximately 1.39 billion KRW). Nvidia's stock price has surged 3,450% over the past five years, and even within the last year alone, the stock price increase rate reached 167%.
On Reddit, the largest Western online community, Nvidia employees' wages and compensation are hot topics on IT-related boards. In the past, when a user asked, "Have all Nvidia employees who worked for more than five years become millionaires?" another user replied, "If you received $100,000 (about 139 million KRW) in RSUs five years ago, that would be about 27,000 shares. Even at $130 (about 180,000 KRW) per share, that amounts to several million dollars."
Another user, who said they have a friend working at Nvidia, shared an experience: "A friend who has worked there for 20 years bought a house worth $17 million (about 24 billion KRW) entirely in cash."
Of course, the person who benefited the most among Nvidia employees is none other than founder and CEO Jensen Huang. As Nvidia's market capitalization ranks first or second globally, CEO Huang's personal net worth has grown to $117 billion (about 162 trillion KRW). According to the global billionaire rankings compiled by the U.S. economic magazine Fortune, he ranks 11th.
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