Jensen Huang passes Zuckerberg and Ellison in billionaire ranks as Nvidia pops 9%

Billionaires

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday became the world’s sixth-richest person, as shares of the AI headliner rallied following a blowout earnings report that appeared to cool broader concerns about demand for the emerging tech.
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Shares of the world’s most valuable company approached an all-time high.

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Key Facts

Shares of Nvidia jumped 8.7% to $227.98 on Thursday, not a far cry from its all-time high of $236.

Nvidia on Wednesday reported $96.2 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $2.22, far exceeding consensus analyst estimates of $92.2 billion and $2.09, respectively, according to FactSet data.

In an earnings call, chief financial officer Colette Kress said Nvidia expects revenue growth of 70% for fiscal year 2028—running from February 2027 to January 2028—and Huang said demand was “much greater than 70%,” but production is hampered because of supply constraints.

That projection came even as Nvidia has “never forecasted” a year ahead, Huang said, but the firm has “a lot greater visibility now.”

Raymond James bumped its price target for Nvidia’s stock to $515 from $352, the most bullish among investment firms, while Bernstein raised its price target to $400 from $315 and JPMorgan to $320 from $280.

Forbes Valuation

Huang had his net worth increase by $15.6 billion to $196.8 billion thanks to Nvidia’s stock rally, ranking him the sixth-richest person in the world, moving him ahead of Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg ($196.2 billion) and Oracle’s Larry Ellison ($194.9 billion).

Big Number

Around $450 billion. That’s how much was added to Nvidia’s market valuation amid a stock rally, rising from $5.07 trillion to $5.52 trillion. The AI bellwether ranks the world’s most valuable firm, directly ahead of Apple ($4.59 trillion), which briefly overtook Nvidia for the top spot last month, and Alphabet ($4.13 trillion).

What To Watch For

Nvidia has agreed to buy Hugging Face, a popular open-weight AI model hosting platform, for $12.9 billion, The Information reported, citing unnamed sources. That would more than double Hugging Face’s previous valuation of $4.5 billion from a funding round in August 2023, in which Nvidia invested $235 million.

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