Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang resigned on Thursday following reports of two extramarital affairs.
According to The New York Times, the company’s board met Wednesday evening and appointed chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim chief executive.
Huang, 63, founded Nvidia in 1993 and, with a 3.56 percent stake, serves as the company’s largest individual shareholder. His influence at the Silicon Valley firm has been so great that few executives, with the possible exception of Steve Jobs of Apple or Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, have been as closely identified with their companies.
Beyond his corporate role, Huang is one of the world’s wealthiest people and a known ally of President Trump. According to The New York Times, President Trump previously received information regarding the relationship with the woman suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset but took no action, defending Huang over the past week as an “honorable man” who did not know the woman was a Chinese agent.
Following his resignation, Jensen Huang has agreed to testify before Congress. The board has also appointed longtime tech entrepreneur Harvey Jones as the company’s new chairman. In a statement regarding the leadership transition, Jones said that the board maintains confidence in the executive team and expects that “the company’s operations, customer commitments and product road map to continue without interruption.”
88% of surveyed $NVDA employees reportedly want Jensen Huang to remain CEO while just 1% want him removed. Would've been pretty wild if Nvidia employees turned on the guy who made half of them millionaires. pic.twitter.com/3uxDZLZfCI
Nvidia shares fell as much as 14 percent in early trading on Thursday. Industry analysts and leaders in the artificial intelligence sector are currently evaluating the impact of the departure, as Huang had been a prominent advocate for making AI models accessible to developers. This position had benefited Nvidia, which controls an estimated 90 percent of the market for the chips driving the U.S. AI economy.
Regarding the allegations involving the Chinese government, U.S. officials claim that Alice Huang was recruited to spy on the CEO and potentially assist in the diversion of Nvidia chips into China. In a letter addressed to his employees, Jensen Huang acknowledged the personal fallout of these revelations:
“Throughout my life, my family has given me love and support. They deserve my honesty and loyalty. Instead, I let them down and damaged the life we built together.”
A Private Life Publicly Exposed
Jensen Huang has been married to his wife, Lori, for over 41 years. In a May interview with Singapore-based news channel CNA, Huang stated, “Lori’s been with me for a long time, our whole life.” According to longtime Daily News gossip columnist George Rush, “Lori is unusually modest by the standards of billionaire couples.”
More on Jensen Huang
NYT says Jensen Huang had a relationship Nvidia's vice president of health care. https://t.co/restNfM7wJ
Useful summary of situation – scandal affecting political climate in Washington and adding momentum to legislation to tighten export controls but unlikely to infringe upon Trump’s near-term leader-level diplomacy with Xi. https://t.co/XBrKH2QuXy
The New York Times reports Jensen Huang allegedly had another affair, this time with $NVDA VP of Healthcare Kimberly Powell citing five people who worked at the company. The two were reportedly seen being affectionate at a hotel during Nvidia's March conference. pic.twitter.com/JrvMc302Xd
