Former Nvidia consultant claims company owes him $1 billion in stock
Former Nvidia consultant Eric Gullichsen claims the company owes him stock valued at $1 billion due to an alleged misallocation of options granted in 1993. Nvidia has reportedly rejected a settlement offer.
A former consultant for Nvidia, Eric Gullichsen, has claimed in a blog post that the tech giant owes him stock valued at approximately $1 billion. Gullichsen, who was part of Nvidia's early technical advisory committee, was granted 25,000 stock options in September 1993.
Gullichsen states that upon reviewing the option grant documents in 2024, he discovered a discrepancy. He alleges that the options should have vested over four quarters within one year, rather than over a four-year period as he understood. A letter from Nvidia's CFO in 1996 reportedly indicated only 15,625 options had vested. Adjusted for subsequent stock splits, the current value of the remaining options is estimated at around $1 billion.
Gullichsen acknowledged that he and his legal counsel believe the claim faces significant hurdles due to statutes of limitations. He also stated that they had offered Nvidia a settlement for substantially less than $1 billion, but the company rejected the proposal. Gullichsen concluded his post by emphasizing the importance of carefully reading contract terms.
Gullichsen's early work involved virtual reality projects, and his research reportedly attracted the attention of Nvidia's co-founders in 1993, leading to the option grant. Nvidia has not publicly responded to Gullichsen's allegations.