Nvidia Director Sells Nearly $947 Million in Stock Before Huang Exit

The last of those transactions was recorded on Sept. 18, about seven weeks before Nvidia’s board opened an independent inquiry into reports concerning then-chief executive Jensen Huang.

Stevens, who joined the board in 2008 after an earlier term from 1993 to 2006, is identified on the forms as a director. The shares were sold in the open market by the Third Millennium Trust, of which he and his wife are co-trustees, according to footnotes in the filings.

Filings Detail Three Sale Batches

Three Form 4 reports, filed between Sept. 2 and Sept. 22, cover 4,236,740 shares sold for a combined $946.6 million.

The first batch, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, disposed of 1,848,501 shares at prices ranging from about $220 to $226, for about $411 million.

A second batch on Sept. 3 and Sept. 4 sold 1,022,239 shares at prices ranging from about $228 to $234, raising about $236 million.

The third sale, on Sept. 18, covered 1,366,000 shares at about $220 each and generated about $300 million.

No Trading Plan Is Flagged

Each of the three forms leaves unchecked the box that would indicate a sale was made under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, a prearranged schedule that can provide an affirmative defense against insider-trading claims.

The footnotes cite no such plan. The filings do not give a reason for the sales and do not mention the later reports about Huang.

Corporate insiders often sell stock for reasons such as diversification or liquidity. The absence of a flagged trading plan is not, by itself, evidence of unlawful insider trading.

Sales Precede Huang’s Resignation

Nvidia’s board opened an independent inquiry on Nov. 8 into reports that Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.

Four days later, the company said Huang had resigned as president, chief executive and a director, effective immediately, and named chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim CEO.

The board had been preparing to oust Huang, The Wall Street Journal reported, after two extramarital affairs, including one with a woman U.S. officials have described as a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. The espionage allegations have not been proven in court.

Nothing in the Form 4 documents links Stevens’s sales to those later developments.

Stevens Still Holds a Large Stake

After the Sept. 18 transactions, Stevens reported beneficial ownership of 27,532,893 Nvidia shares.

That total comprises 11,544,612 shares held directly, 15,017,750 shares held by the Envy Trust, of which he is trustee, and 970,531 shares remaining in the Third Millennium Trust.