Former Hostage, New Millionaire
Held in a Cage... Made a Mollionaire? The Shocking Financial News for Avinatan Or
Former Hamas hostage and NVIDIA engineer Avinatan Or returns after 738 days in captivity to discover his company stocks surged during his imprisonment, potentially making him a millionaire.
The brutal, isolating reality of captivity in Gaza for Avinatan Or has been starkly contrasted with an extraordinary message of corporate solidarity and stunning personal financial news from his employer, the tech giant NVIDIA.
Or, a software engineer at NVIDIA, was recently released after 738 days in captivity, enduring conditions a relative described as torture: imprisonment in a tiny cage, forced to stand bent over for months, and held in total isolation.
Hell in a Cage, Hope on the Clock
Details emerging from a relative to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster paint a chilling picture of Or's ordeal. He was held in a cage barely large enough to lie down, often handcuffed to the bars, and entirely cut off from the outside world. Crucially, he had no knowledge of his partner, Noa Argamani, who was being held separately.
While Or was subjected to these extreme conditions, his colleagues at NVIDIA kept a vigil. His immediate boss updated him on his return with a deeply moving, yet distinctly tech-world, letter that mixed emotional relief with a lighthearted stock market check:
"Avinatan Or, I hope you have a good excuse for not showing up to work at NVIDIA for 738 days... Every Sunday morning for two years, the head of NVIDIA Israel’s HR, Gideon Rosenberg, sent an email to all employees counting the days you were in captivity..."
The letter went on to note that NVIDIA's global CEO, Jensen Huang, had mentioned Or's name in every quarterly internal meeting, ensuring the company’s 40,000 employees remembered their missing colleague.
The Financial Shock
The most jarring juxtaposition came with the final line of the boss's email:
"How wonderful that you’ve returned home. I heard you have an amazing girlfriend waiting for you, loving parents, a company that truly cares for you, and some great news about what’s happened with your stocks over the past two years.”
During the two years of Or's captivity, NVIDIA’s stock (NASDAQ: NVDA) experienced an unprecedented, massive surge, driven by the AI boom and its dominance in specialized computing chips. For a long-term employee, this would likely translate into a substantial financial windfall upon his return.
The message underscores the bizarre collision of the personal nightmare of a hostage and the booming global fortunes of the Silicon Valley machine, a stark reminder of the two separate realities Or was forced to live between. He returns to freedom, family, and a new life, both physically scarred by his ordeal and likely financially transformed by the company that never forgot him.