NVIDIA’s Ownership Structure
In 1993, Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem founded NVIDIA as a fabless manufacturer of graphics accelerator chips for desktop computers. At the time, NVIDIA had secured funding of $20 million from investors like Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures.
In 1999, NVIDIA came up with the GeForce 256, which it positioned as the first graphics processing unit (GPU), a breakthrough that changed computer graphics. However, NVIDIA was on the verge of collapse even before it achieved this milestone. The inception of a canceling project by Sega Dreamcast almost wiped the company. Nevertheless, Sega was an investor of 5 million dollars that gave NVIDIA a runway to create RIVA 128 in 1997, its first commercial success with high profits and the basis of the further development.
At inception, the company’s ownership was concentrated among the three founders and early investors. Jensen Huang, held a significant ownership stake, exceeding 50% with his co-founders, before outside investment diluted initial shares. Early venture investors such as Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures took meaningful equity positions in return for their capital and support.
In this article about NVIDIA’s ownership structure, we will note how various investors and stakeholders played a role in NVIDIA’s journey. Read on to know more!
Funding Rounds and Dilution
Between 1993 and the late 1990s, NVIDIA completed several funding rounds to fuel product development and expansion. In the late 1990s, NVIDIA overcame near bankruptcy with a critical investment of $5 million secured from Sega’s board, supporting the development of their breakthrough graphics chip, RIVA 128.
By the time NVIDIA introduced its revolutionary GPU, the GeForce 256 in 1999, as it prepared for its IPO, the ownership had become more distributed. Founders’ ownership stakes experienced dilution through multiple funding rounds but remained sizable with Jensen Huang holding about 3.5% as an individual post-IPO. Early investors such as Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures retained meaningful stakes, contributing to the company’s strategic development and governance.
Pre-IPO Ownership Snapshot
When NVIDIA went public in 1999, its IPO price was $12 per share. At this stage, the ownership structure had shifted notably from its founding days:
- Founders and Executive retained a minority but influential stake, with Jensen Huang owning around 3.5%.
- Early venture capital investors maintained significant holdings but diluted compared to initial rounds.
- Institutional investors and the public market absorbed the majority of shares, marking the company’s transition into a widely held public corporation.
This transition is typical for startups moving to IPO as fresh capital enters and liquidity is provided to early stakeholders.
Top individual shareholders
The top individual shareholders at NVIDIA are as follows:
Jensen Huang | 3.77%
Jensen Huang is NVIDIA’s largest individual shareholder and has served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President ever since he founded it along with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem in 1993. As of Aug. 17, 2025 Huang appears on the Forbes billionaires list at No. 7 with a net worth of approximately $157 billion. As of March 2025, he owned 922,922,938 shares of Nvidia, which comprise 3.77% of all outstanding shares.
Mark A. Stevens | 0.15%
In 1989, Mark A. Stevens joined Sequoia Capital, one of the early investors of NVIDIA, as an associate and rose to the rank of managing general partner by the time he exited the venture capital firm in 2012. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital, Stevens also worked at Intel and completed his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989. Like Huang, Stevens also had his first job in the service industry when he served as a cook at Jack in the Box in California as a 16-year-old.
Stevens was on the board of Nvidia between 1993 and 2006 and has since re-served since 2008.
His net worth is $10.7 billion as of Aug. 17, 2025, making him No. 261 on the list of billionaires in the Forbes list. As of March 2025, Mark A. Stevens held 37,886,641 shares of Nvidia, which is approximately 0.15 percent of all outstanding shares.
Tench Coxe | 0.13%
Like Stevens, Tench Coxe, too, joined one of NVIDIA’s early investors in 1989. Since 1993 Coxe is a board member of Nvidia, and has amassed enough shares to become a billionaire. He entered the world of venture capital into Nvidia. He worked as a managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures between 1989 and 2020 and in the boards at Mattersight Corp. and Artisan Partners Asset Management.
As of Aug. 17, 2025, the billionaire has a net worth of $7.5 billion, and ranks at No. 460 on the Forbes billionaires list. As of March 2025, Tench Coxe held 32,555, 240 shares in Nvidia, which is less than 0.13 percent of the total outstanding share.
Top institutional shareholders
Currently, NVIDIA’s institutional ownership stands at 68.97%. The following table lists the top 10 institutional investors of NVIDIA. Together, these investors represent more than half of the institutional ownership in NVIDIA.
| Institution | Shares | Date Reported | Ownership percentage | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Group Inc | 2.23B | Jun 30, 2025 | 9.19% | $380,163,036,909 |
| Blackrock Inc. | 1.91B | Jun 30, 2025 | 7.86% | $325,217,951,219 |
| FMR, LLC | 997.98M | Jun 30, 2025 | 4.11% | $169,945,639,503 |
| State Street Corporation | 978.21M | Jun 30, 2025 | 4.03% | $166,579,180,542 |
| Geode Capital Management, LLC | 579.21M | Jun 30, 2025 | 2.38% | $98,634,262,515 |
| JPMORGAN CHASE & CO | 462.59M | Jun 30, 2025 | 1.90% | 78773914475 |
| Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc | 406.33M | Jun 30, 2025 | 2% | 69,193,141,974 |
| NORGES BANK | 325.25M | Jun 30, 2025 | 1.34% | 55387483936 |
| Morgan Stanley | 325.71M | Jun 30, 2025 | 1.34% | $55,465,291,307 |
| Northern Trust Corporation | 261.15M | Jun 30, 2025 | 1.07% | $44,471,480,199 |
NVIDIA’s Stock performance
At the time of writing, NVIDIA’s stock price stood at $167.02. This would put its 1-year return at 54.6% and 5-year return at 1,323.9%. This remarkable growth in stock price led to NVIDIA having a high 5-year monthly beta of 2.10 and a 52-week change of 56.9%. In contrast, the S&P 500 had a 52-week change of 18.5%.
Share price statistics
| Financial metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Beta (5Y Monthly) | 2.1 |
| 52 Week Change | 56.87% |
| S&P 500 52-Week Change | 18.47% |
| 52 Week High | 184.48 |
| 52 Week Low | 86.62 |
| 50-Day Moving Average | 172.32 |
| 200-Day Moving Average | 139.22 |
NVIDIA has been acting as a catalyst to the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution being pioneered by companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral AI, and Cohere. As of Q3 2024, NVIDIA had captured 90% of the global market for GPUs whose processing power is essential for training AI models and generating responses. As a result, NVIDIA’s stock has garnered a lot of interest from investors, leading to an average 3-month volume of 234.76 million.
The popularity of the tech giant is also reflected in how few traders are interested in shorting its stock. While a good short percentage of float is below 10%, the figure for NVIDIA stands at 0.88%.
Volume and shareholding statistics
| Financial metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Average volume (3 months) | 174.4 Million |
| Average volume (10 days) | 202.63 Million |
| Outstanding shares | 24.35 Billion |
| Implied outstanding shares | 25.02 Billion |
| Float | 23.32 Billion |
| Percentage held by insiders | 4.33% |
| Percentage held by institutions | 68.97% |
| Shares short (8/15/2025) | 205.24 million |
| Short ratio (8/15/2025) | 1.3 |
| Short percentage of float (8/15/2025) | 0.88% |
| Short percentage of shares outstanding (8/15/2025) | 0.84% |
| Shares short (prior month 7/15/2025) | 201.66 million |
Being a growth pick, currently, NVIDIA offers low dividends with its 5-year average dividend yield standing at 0.06.
Dividend information
| Particulars | Value |
|---|---|
| Forward annual dividend rate | 0.04 |
| Forward annual dividend yield | 0.02% |
| Trailing annual dividend rate | 0.04 |
| Trailing annual dividend yield | 0.02% |
| 5-year average dividend yield | 0.06 |
| Payout ratio | 1.14% |
| Dividend date | 10/02/2025 |
| Ex-dividend date | 9/11/2025 |
| Last split factor | 10:1 |
| Last split date | 6/10/2024 |
Current Ownership Structure (2024-2025)
Today, NVIDIA is a trillion-dollar company listed on NASDAQ under the ticker NVDA with a vastly different ownership profile reflecting decades of growth and capital market activity:
- Institutional investors collectively hold approximately 64-68% of NVIDIA’s shares. Major institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group (~8.7%), BlackRock (~7.4%), Fidelity, State Street, and Geode Capital.
- Founders and insiders’ ownership is much smaller in percentage terms, with CEO Jensen Huang holding about 3.5% individually, translating to tens of billions in value.
- Retail shareholders and other individual investors make up the remainder, though individual influence on policy remains limited compared to institutions.
The company’s stock has shown remarkable growth reflecting NVIDIA’s leadership in GPUs and AI computing, with a 5-year return exceeding 2,000%. Institutional confidence and founder commitment continue to drive corporate strategy.
| Summary Table Of Ownership Evolution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stage | Founders&Insiders(%) | Early Investors(%) | Institutional &Public | Notes |
| Startup 1993 | ~80-90% (founders + early investors) | ~10-20% (seed/VC funding) | 0% | Founders dominant; early VC backing |
| Pre-IPO 1999 | ~20-30% | ~30-40% | ~30-40% | Dilution from funding rounds; IPO prepares liquidity |
| Current 2024 | ~3.5% (Jensen Huang) + insiders | Minor, largely exited | ~65%+ | Institutional ownership dominant; public shareholders |
Factors driving shifts in NVIDIA’s ownership structure
Among the Wall Street analysts that have rated NVIDIA in the last 12 months, there is a strong consensus rating of ‘Moderate Buy.’ The following table summarizes the current ratings issued by the 66 Wall Street analysts for NVIDIA.
| Rating | Number of analysts |
|---|---|
| Hold | 5 |
| Buy | 50 |
| Overweight | 11 |
At NVIDIA, individual shareholders have a very limited influence on policy decisions. The retail investors collectively own 42.65% of the company. This amount of voting power is not enough to turn around a policy decision. However, in impasses between institutional investors, their votes can be decisive.
The top 25 shareholders collectively hold a little less than 50% of the share register, so no individual can own a majority interest. Since institutional investors own 68% of the company, the company’s policies and strategies are heavily influenced by the preferences of institutions.
Seeing how institutional investors made a net purchase of 3,537,970,136 shares worth $318.78 billion, it would be reasonable to expect a continuance of the institutional investor stronghold on NVIDIA’s ownership and governance.
This ownership structure reflects a blend of institutional confidence in NVIDIA’s growth potential alongside significant insider commitment to the company’s future direction.
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NVIDIA’s story is a testament to how access to funds at the right time can make or break a startup. If Irimajiri-san hadn’t placed his faith in NVIDIA even after a failed collaboration, NVIDIA would have joined the long list of computing pioneers that are now defunct.
Presently, securing funding depends a lot on the founder’s ability to validate their valuations. This is an area where Eqvista’s exhaustive fundraising valuation reports can be of help. Contact us to know more!
