Nvidia's John Malone Dealmaking Opportunity

Here’s a thought about Nvidia’s future: All the equity stakes it’s accumulating in AI companies—including, as we reported on Sunday, an expanded stake in Perplexity—could become more useful in ways other than simply guaranteeing demand for its chips. Over time the stakes could end up being worth a lot of money and could also make CEO Jensen Huang even more of a kingmaker in the AI sector than he already is. You could even imagine Nvidia spinning off its investment portfolio into a separate stand-alone company at some point to highlight its value.

Think about how John Malone’s media empire developed in the long-distant past (Malone was probably most active before many AI folks were born). In the 1980s, at the helm of one of cable TV’s early giants, Tele-Communications Inc., Malone invested in nascent cable programming firms like Discovery, BET and Turner Broadcasting whose channels ran on TCI and other cable systems. The investments served two purposes: By supporting these young firms, TCI ensured there was enough differentiated programming on cable to persuade consumers to pay for the service rather than just relying on free over-the-air television. It wasn’t just charity: Programming entrepreneurs needed the distribution Malone controlled, which gave him leverage to get the equity at attractive prices.