How Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Avoids U.S. Estate Taxes

On December 5, 2024, The New York Times published an article titled "How One of the World’s Richest Men Avoided $8 Billion in Taxes". That “one of the world’s richest men” is none other than Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of Nvidia, the artificial intelligence (AI) chip company that currently ranks as the second-largest company in the world by market capitalization (it briefly held the top spot before being overtaken by Apple on the day of publication). For the purposes of this article, we’ll refer to Jensen Huang as “Huang.”

Thanks to Nvidia’s surging stock price, Huang’s net worth has skyrocketed. According to Forbes, as of December 6, 2024, Huang ranks as the 11th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $124.3 billion (approximately RMB 903.7 billion). For comparison, Zhong Shanshan of Nongfu Spring, the richest person in China, has a fortune of $50.8 billion—just 40% of Huang’s wealth. By any measure, Huang is indisputably the wealthiest Chinese individual in the world today.

Following the New York Times article, Nvidia’s stock price dropped from a high of $146.30 on December 5, 2024, to a low of $141.42 the next day, a decline of 3.3%. While this percentage drop may seem minor for most companies, Nvidia’s market cap, as of December 6, 2024, stands at $3.488 trillion. A 3.3% decline translates to a loss of approximately $118.9 billion in market value—equivalent to 40% of the market cap of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest publicly listed company in mainland China, valued at $287.7 billion. Unsurprisingly, some online commentators have attributed Nvidia’s stock drop to the New York Times “exposé” and have speculated that Huang could face greater scrutiny in the future, such as being targeted by the IRS or even fined. Some have even advised other investors to sell Nvidia stock.

In this article, we will provide a detailed analysis of the New York Times report, examine the original materials, explore how Huang managed to avoid $8 billion in estate taxes, and discuss whether these tax avoidance strategies comply with U.S. laws.