How Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang treats employees of the world’s most valuable company
Jensen Huang has been busy talking all things Nvidia this week at the annual Computex trade show in Taipei. While the CEO has spent much of his time delivering keynote speeches and unveiling new superchips, he also gave reporters insight into how he treats his more than 42,000 employees. “I think people should be paid as much as possible,” Huang told reporters. “I pay my employees as much as I can,” he added, responding to a question about Nvidia’s partnership with Samsung and its recent compensation agreement that would give eligible employees $400,000 bonuses. Last year, an SEC filing noted that the median Nvidia employee made $301,233. Huang’s compensation was $49,866,251, making the CEO to median employee pay ratio 166:1. Huang has made multiple members of his board billionaires. Fortune also reported last year that two Nvidia’s senior leadership members became billionaires due to the company’s surging stock price. During a panel last year, Huang said he’s “created more billionaires on my management team than any CEO in the world,” adding that he reviews every Nvidia’s compensation package. “I sort through all 42,000 employees and 100% of the time I increase the company’s spend on [operating expenditure],” Huang said. “The reason for that is because you take care of people, everything else takes care of itself.” Attaining those compensation packages is no easy feat for Nvidia employees. Huang has been known to be a tough boss. In an earlier interview with Channel News Asia, Huang was asked what he means by his “torturing people to greatness” management style. “It’s torture the same way that Taiwanese parents torture people,” Huang, a Taipei native, said. “You know, [to] a Taiwanese parent, nothing is ever good enough. And you can’t go a day without some criticism.” Huang said he operates Nvidia with the foundation he grew up with. “You can’t show me something without me giving you some criticism,” he said. “I’m always critical of ev