- Jensen Huang has come a long way from waiting tables at Denny's.
- The Nvidia CEO has an estimated net worth of $106 billion.
- Here's a look at how he built his fortune — and how he spends his money.
Nvidia's blockbuster year has been good news for its CEO, Jensen Huang.
Nvidia earnings were strong in 2024, and the company's stock price has been up in the first quarter of the year.
Huang, who cofounded the company in 1993 and has served as its president and CEO ever since, has seen his net worth balloon as the chipmaker's market cap rises.
In 2024, he broke into Forbes' list of the top 10 richest people for the first time ever. His net worth today is approximately $106 billion, according to the ranking.
Now leading one of the Magnificent 7 companies, Huang has come a long way from his first job washing dishes and cleaning toilets at Denny's.
Here's a closer look at how Huang built and spends his fortune:
How Huang became a billionaire
As of March 2024, Huang owned roughly 3.79% of the company's outstanding shares, according to a proxy statement. He is the company's largest individual shareholder.
Before starting Nvidia, Huang worked at computer chip manufacturer LSI Logic and at semiconductor company AMD, which is today helmed by his distant cousin, Lisa Su.
How much of Nvidia Huang owns, what his CEO salary is
Huang received a total compensation package of $34.2 million for fiscal year 2024, which included a base salary of $996,514, as well as $26.7 million in stock awards, $4 million in cash bonuses, and $2.5 million for other expenses, including residential security and car and driver services.
His pay package was up 60% from the fiscal year prior, when it was $21.4 million.
Huang undertook a prearranged trading plan in 2024 to sell 6 million shares by the end of the first quarter of 2025; as a result, he offloaded roughly $700 million worth of Nvidia shares.
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How Huang compares to other tech CEOs and billionaires
Huang's total compensation for 2024 was pretty middle of the pack compared to other tech CEOs of the Mag 7 companies.
He's one of roughly 15 centibillionaires identified on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
At 62 years old, Huang is older than some of his Big Tech peers, such as Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Sundar Pichai, and Amazon's Andy Jassy, but younger than others, such as Apple's Tim Cook.
How Huang spends his fortune
As far as real estate is concerned, he has owned property in California, as Nvidia has headquarters in Santa Clara, as well as Hawaii.
He isn't known for many ostentatious splurges, but Huang's leather jacket is a staple of his wardrobe. He has worn several over the years at high-profile events, including one lizard-embossed jacket that appeared to be from Tom Ford's spring 2023 collection and retailed for $8,990.
Huang has also given some of his fortune to philanthropic causes. In 2007, he and his wife established the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation.
They've given $50 million to Oregon State University, which subsequently named a research center for the couple, both of whom are OSU alums.
The couple donated $30 million to Stanford University, from which Huang received his master's degree, for an engineering center. They've also given $22.5 million to the California College of the Arts.
An Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment.