GoKawiilEx-Nvidia advisor Eric Gullichsen claims $1B in unvested stock from 1993 grant
Eric Gullichsen, a former Nvidia Technical Advisory Board member, says a 1993 stock option grant he re-examined in 2024 shows a one-year vesting schedule rather than the four years he was told, meaning 9,375 additional shares should have vested. After accounting for Nvidia's stock splits, he calculates this discrepancy would now be worth roughly $1 billion. He says he and his lawyer concluded the statute of limitations likely barred any legal claim.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The dispute hinges on conflicting documents: a signed grant cover sheet stating one-year vesting versus a CEO letter and a CFO's later exercise letter both consistent with a four-year schedule, which could explain why Nvidia has not agreed to a settlement. Because Gullichsen himself acknowledges the claim would likely be dismissed on statute-of-limitations grounds, this appears more likely to remain a public dispute than proceed to litigation.
- Gullichsen says a 1993 Nvidia option grant document specifies one-year vesting, contradicting a four-year schedule referenced elsewhere.
- The alleged shortfall of 9,375 shares, after 480x in splits, would equal about 4.5 million shares worth roughly $1 billion today.
- Gullichsen says his own legal counsel believed the statute of limitations made the claim unlikely to survive a motion to dismiss.
Source: tomshardware.com — Shane Downing, 2026-09-29
Published there as: “Early Nvidia advisor says he's owed $1 billion in stock due to a 1993 vesting error, but Nvidia rejected settlement”
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