Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, recently shared an interesting story from his company’s past — when Sega essentially saved NVIDIA with a major investment during the Dreamcast era. However, Sega later sold its shares, missing out on what could have made it an ultra-billion-dollar company today.
This took place in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a time when the stock market and NVIDIA’s future were highly unpredictable. The company was struggling, and few could have imagined how far it would eventually rise.
Sega’s Lifeline During NVIDIA’s Struggles
It was an extremely difficult period for NVIDIA, which was close to bankruptcy. The partnership and financial support from Sega effectively saved the company, and Huang recalls the episode with deep gratitude.
“The CEO of Sega decided that Jensen was a young man he liked,” Huang explained, remembering the agreement made between Sega and NVIDIA for the creation of the Dreamcast hardware.
The deal came after a series of poor decisions that had placed NVIDIA near the bottom among Silicon Valley companies. Despite this, Sega believed in Huang and invested $5 million in his company.
Instead of cash, Sega received the equivalent value in NVIDIA shares. At that time, the company’s future was uncertain and the tech market was volatile, so Sega sold its NVIDIA stock soon after, earning around $300 million.
What Could Have Been: A Trillion-Dollar Opportunity Lost
While that was still a remarkable profit, it pales in comparison to what Sega could have earned had it kept those shares.
According to Huang, if Sega had held onto its NVIDIA stock, it would now be worth around one trillion dollars, considering NVIDIA’s exponential growth over the years.
