Nvidia Directly Rebuts Accounting Allegations—'We Are Not Enron'

(Seoul=Yonhap Infomax) Si Yoon Yoon – Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) has issued a direct rebuttal to mounting allegations regarding insider stock sales by senior executives and its accounting practices.

On the 24th (local time), Nvidia’s Investor Relations (IR) team distributed a confidential seven-page memo to Wall Street analysts, systematically refuting 12 claims raised by skeptics including Michael Burry.

The company categorically denied any parallels with Enron Corp.—the U.S. energy giant that collapsed due to accounting fraud—and addressed concerns over its share repurchase amounts and employee compensation.

The memo, which was leaked on social media and featured Nvidia’s signature green font, opened by directly confronting criticism posted last week by Michael Burry on social media.

Burry, renowned for predicting the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis and depicted in the film "The Big Short," recently compared the current artificial intelligence (AI) market to the dot-com bubble of the 1990s via his inaugural Substack newsletter and posts on X (formerly Twitter).

In particular, Burry has questioned Nvidia’s extensive stock-based compensation (SBC) and its share buyback program.

In the memo, Nvidia stated, “Since 2018, our total share repurchases have amounted to $91 billion, not $112.5 billion as Burry claims,” adding, “It appears he incorrectly included taxes related to restricted stock units (RSUs).”

The company further clarified, “Stock-based compensation granted to employees should not be conflated with the performance of our share repurchase program,” and emphasized, “The fact that employees benefit from share price appreciation does not mean the compensation levels were excessive at the time.”

Major international media outlets reported that the authenticity of the memo has been confirmed by multiple Wall Street sources.

syyoon@yna.co.kr

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