Failure to achieve sales target, Huang Renxun cut salary by US$2.5 million, personal assets exceeded US$26.1 billion

Nvidia President and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang reportedly could have earned nearly $25 million in its most recent fiscal year, but he had to settle for less after failing to meet financial goals.

The GPU maker's co-founder and designated executive officer (NECO) was still well rewarded for fiscal 2023, which ended January 29, with total compensation of $21.356 million. However, this is millions of dollars below the achievable maximum and down 10% from the previous year.

Huang's realized financial pot includes a base salary of $996,216, $19.666 million in stock awards and $693,710 in other compensation (security, life insurance, travel, etc.). Nvidia said big bosses weren't fully paid because performance fell short of targets.

Revenue for the first 12 months was flat at $26.974 billion, and net income was $4.368 billion, compared with $9.75 billion a year earlier. Nvidia isn't the only industry facing post-pandemic demand being tested by rising inflation and other challenging factors.

The salary data was included in Nvidia's disclosures this week.

"Fiscal 2023 was a challenging year, with macroeconomic headwinds, channel inventory adjustments, COVID-19 and product architecture transformation impacting many of our businesses. As a result, our fiscal 2023 revenue and non-GAAP operating income underperformed CC (Compensation Committee) pre-set executive compensation targets,” Nvidia said in the materials.

So how are Nvidia's other executives doing? They also made less than they should have: Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress received $10.91 million, but had a target pay of $11.99 million, while Vice President of Global Operations Away Puri received $10.62 million, compared with a possible salary of $11.99 million. Dollar.

As for the broader workforce, the median employee pay is $229,078 -- giving the CEO to median employee pay ratio a 94:1 ratio.

Nvidia urges all shareholders to vote to approve executive compensation in 2023, promising better things to come. "As we enter fiscal 2024, we expect new product architectures to emerge, along with new opportunities from areas such as generative AI and language models, Nvidia cloud services and digitalization."

If we look at Nvidia's stock price today and a year ago, we see another financial trend that could appease Nvidia's boss, a former Denny's Diner waiter.

A year ago, Nvidia Corporation shares were trading at $166 and today they are at $288, a gain of more than 73%, according to Google Finance. The Nvidia CEO is the largest individual shareholder, holding 3.51% of the company's stock (over 86 million shares).

Considering all of the above, it's no surprise that the Nvidia CEO's real-time net worth continues to climb even as his compensation is cut. According to his Forbes profile, Huang's net worth today is $26.1 billion, an increase of just over 1%, making him the 76th richest billionaire in the world.