The excerpt is from a chapter about activist hedge fund Starboard Value, founded by Jeff Smith. Another Nvidia executive said Starboard wanted a board seat, but the board had pushed back. In November 2013, Nvidia made two announcements: a commitment to buy back $1 billion of stock by fiscal 2015 and the authorization of an additional $1 billion stock buyback. Far from a contentious relationship, Nvidia and Starboard seemed to work well together in this brief period. Days later, Nvidia and Mellanox made the deal public and held a conference call with analysts and investors.

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Persons: Jensen Huang, Tae Kim, Jeff Smith, Darden, Jensen, Smith, Eyal Waldman, Mellanox, Waldman, Mellanox didn't, Brian Venturo, Jensen wasn't, Jay Puri Organizations: Nvidia, Tech, W.W, Norton & Company, Securities, Exchange, U.S, Intel Locations: CUDA, Mellanox