Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, one of the most important personalities of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry and one of the biggest companies in the world, is in the news these days regarding his personal life. In fact, an interesting mathematics has emerged regarding the division of property in the event of a possible divorce with his wife Lori Mills. It is estimated that if the two separate, Lori Mills may get assets worth about $60 billion (approximately Rs 5.3 lakh crore). If they get divorced, it could become the most expensive divorce in the world. However, till now no public announcement has been made by either side regarding divorce.
The story started with college homework
Jensen Huang and Lori Mills met as partners in an electrical engineering lab at Oregon State University. Both of them fell in love, got married and in the year 1993, Jensen founded Nvidia, that is, the marriage took place before the company was formed.
California law and ‘community property’
Jensen and Lori live in California. According to California law, property acquired after marriage is considered ‘community property’. This means that in case of divorce, the property is divided half between the husband and wife. The special thing is that under the law, Lori will not get any extra compensation for extra-marital affair (not being faithful), the distribution will be done only on the basis of fixed rules and documents.
What is the math of $60 billion?
Nvidia’s share filing documents show that it has shares worth more than 46.7 crores in its living trust. According to Monday’s closing price, its value was around $ 84 billion (more than Rs 7 lakh crore). In this trust, Lori Mills’ name has been registered as a co-owner along with Jensen since the beginning. If the direct shares of the trust, shares of six companies owned by the trust and individual shares of Jensen are combined, then this entire block is worth about $ 107.4 billion. If the court considers this entire property as ‘community property’, then half of it i.e. approximately $53.7 billion to $60 billion can go directly into Lori Mills’ account. Since all this wealth rests on the shares of the company, it is not stable. In October, Jensen’s assets were $ 204 billion, which came down to $ 155 billion when the shares fell. Only a 20% movement in the market can turn this $60 billion math up or down by $12 billion.
Will the record of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates be broken?
If this divorce happens, it will break all records in history. After her divorce from Jeff Bezos (Amazon) in 2019, McKenzie Scott received shares worth $38.3 billion.
Melinda French Gates received billions of dollars after her divorce from Bill Gates (Microsoft) in 2021. Rupert Murdoch’s $1.7 billion divorce was once the most expensive. Even if Lori Mills gets half ($60 billion), it would still be the largest settlement in corporate history.
voting rights
In the case of Jensen and Lori, it will not only be important to see who gets how many shares, but also who has the voting rights on those shares. In the divorce from Jeff Bezos, McKenzie Scott got the shares, but she left the voting rights with Bezos so that the control of the company does not get disturbed. If Lori Mills gets 1.4% shares of Nvidia with the right to vote independently, her role in major decisions of the company will become very important.
Source: ndtv.in
