Jensen Huang's leather jacket fetched $960,000 at Sotheby's, which is 96 times its original retail price.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s autographed leather jacket was auctioned at Sotheby’s for $960,000, significantly exceeding the initial estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. The auction involved 65 bids from 45 collectors. The jacket typically retails for just under $10,000. Huang wore the jacket at a Foxconn event in 2023 and signed it for the auction.
“The response to this sale exceeded our highest expectations,” said Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of modern collectibles. The proceeds will benefit the Edge Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering innovation through fellowships, grants, and residencies. The rise of AI is creating wealth that elevates a CEO's apparel to collectible status, as evidenced by the jacket's selling price of 96 times its retail cost, which highlights the cultural impact of Nvidia’s $4.86 trillion market valuation on its founder's image.
For nearly two decades, Huang has favored leather jackets, making them a staple of his appearance at product launches, trade shows, and company events. In a "jersey swap" in 2024, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg exchanged clothing with Huang and later received one of his jackets at a computer graphics conference, noting, “This is worth more because it’s used.” Although Apple recently surpassed Nvidia to become the world’s most valuable company, there are no auctions for Tim Cook’s polo shirts.
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Jensen Huang's leather jacket fetched $960,000 at Sotheby's, which is 96 times its original retail price.
Following 65 bids from 45 collectors, the signed Tom Ford jacket of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was sold for $960,000. The pre-sale estimate was between $40,000 and $60,000, while it has a retail price of $10,000.
