The last year saw a steady decline in the revenues of most chipmaking companies. Courtesy of the cryptocurrency collapse and the slowdown in the PC market, NVIDIA was placed squarely in the center of this group. Regardless, the total compensation of NVIDIA’s executives increased by roughly $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 compared to the previous year. CEO Jensen Huang was an exception, with a drop of $2.4 million in his salary for FY2023.
Over the previous year, Jensen’s base salary was unchanged at approximately $997K, with stock awards worth $19.666 million and an additional $693.710K perk. The loss of the “Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation” resulted in his relatively lower paycheck in 2023. What didn’t drop was the amount on his security. NVIDIA spent an incredible $669,005 on the security of its CEO as part of the “Executive Security Program”, 765% higher than last year.
Consistent with prevalent practices among large, multinational companies, and in accordance with the executive security program established by our Board based on an independent third-party security assessment, NVIDIA provides our CEO with personal security protection. We require that authorized security personnel be present at Mr. Huang’s residence, and that Mr. Huang be driven to and from work, and to and from business meetings, by a security driver in a car leased by NVIDIA, or by an authorized car service. We also conduct ongoing third-party assessments to monitor and help determine Mr. Huang’s overall security needs.
We do not consider these additional security arrangements to be a personal benefit to Mr. Huang because they arise from the nature of his employment responsibilities and the related costs have been incurred as required by the Board’s executive security program. However, they have been disclosed in compliance with SEC rules in the “All Other Compensation” column of the Summary Compensation Table below. In Fiscal 2023, the cost for Mr. Huang’s security arrangements included (i) residential security, (ii) security monitoring services, and (iii) the down payment and monthly expenses for a car leased by NVIDIA.
We believe these arrangements are reasonable, necessary and in the best interests of NVIDIA and its stockholders, as they enable Mr. Huang to focus on his duties to the Company while ensuring that he and his family members are not exposed to security threats. The CC has implemented an annual process to provide oversight of the nature and cost of executive security measures. In evaluating potential perquisites, we consider the cost to the Company relative to the perceived value to our executives, as well as other corporate governance and employee relations factors.
We also provide medical, vision, dental, and accidental death and disability insurance, matches for health savings account contributions, as well as time off and paid holidays, for our NEOs, on the same basis as our other employees. Like other employees, our NEOs are eligible to participate in our ESPP, unless otherwise prohibited by the rules of the Internal Revenue Service, and our 401(k) plan, which included a Company match of salary deferral contributions of up to $9,000 for each of calendar 2022 and calendar 2023. For Fiscal 2023 (which consisted of most of calendar year 2022 and a portion of calendar year 2023), our NEOs received the following 401(k) matches: Mr. Huang received $9,000, Ms. Kress received $10,500, Mr. Puri received $9,250, Ms. Shoquist received $9,000, and Mr. Teter received $10,500. We believe these benefits are consistent with benefits provided by companies with which we compete for executive-level talent. We do not provide any other perquisites or other personal benefits to our NEOs.
Additional Executive Compensation Practices, Policies, and Procedures, Annual Filings, NVIDIA Corporation.
The $669K security bill included residential security, security monitoring services, and the down payment and monthly expenses for a car leased by NVIDIA for Jensen through FY2023. In addition to security, all executives are provided with medical, vision, dental, and insurance benefits and paid holidays. Mr. Huang and his colleagues received approximately $10,000 for the same in FY2023.
