Jensen Huang gave up the Nvidia chief executive job late on Wednesday, November 11, at the end of a remote board meeting that ran into the night, and Bloomberg reports he left it looking “broken and shattered.” By Thursday evening, an internal Nvidia post asking the board to weigh staff sentiment had drawn more than 1,600 comments, most of them backing his return, according to WIRED.
The Huang resignation ends a 33-year run at the chipmaker he co-founded in 1993. Nvidia’s securities filing says the board accepted it on November 11, effective immediately, and the company announced it the next morning. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is now interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement.
How the Huang Resignation Played Out Overnight
Nvidia’s press release presents the exit as a resignation, but the reporting describes a forced one. According to Bloomberg’s reconstruction of his final hours, written by Drake Bennett and Ian King, directors met remotely on Wednesday after The New York Times reported that Huang had an alleged extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. “In the end, Huang was given no choice but to resign, ending his association with the company completely,” Bloomberg wrote.
That came days after Huang admitted to an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive whom US officials reportedly suspect of being a Chinese intelligence asset, and after Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation into the relationship. Neither Nvidia, Huang nor Powell has confirmed the Powell report, TechCrunch noted. On Thursday afternoon, Reuters reported an alleged third relationship, with another Nvidia employee who was not named.
Bloomberg Describes a CEO Who Had Stopped Fighting
Bloomberg’s account, which cites a person familiar with the situation, says Huang’s “surrender late Wednesday night was unconditional” after weeks of denials. His usual take-charge manner had gone, and he had started using phrases like “whatever” and “I don’t care.”
It says Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter went to Huang’s house to confront him after a November 6 Financial Times report, and that Huang confessed there. It also describes an unusual management setup in which around 60 executives reported directly to Huang, and every employee filed emails listing their top five priorities, which he normally answered at any hour. In the scandal’s final days, Bloomberg reports, his response times had grown longer.
According to people who have spoken with him since, Huang has called himself a “piece of sh–” and says he no longer cares what happens to him. His main concern, Bloomberg reports, is his wife and not “ruining the lives” of the women now linked to him. Huang could not be reached for comment, and he has not publicly addressed the reports since his Sunday email to staff.
Kress Named Interim CEO, Jones Becomes First Board Chair
The board’s statement said Kress, who has been CFO since 2013, will keep that job while serving as interim CEO “until a permanent successor has been named,” and that the search “will consider internal and external candidates.” The board also named Harvey C. Jones, a former Synopsys CEO who has been a director since 1993, as Nvidia’s first-ever chair.
“The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption,” Jones said in the announcement.
In an email to staff reviewed by Bloomberg, Kress wrote that “this has been an extraordinarily difficult period” and thanked employees for their “resilience, professionalism and continued dedication.” Bloomberg reports she plans an all-hands meeting on November 18. Nvidia says third-quarter results are still due on Tuesday, November 17.
Nvidia never built a traditional succession plan, Bloomberg reports, naming AMD chief Lisa Su and Arm chief Rene Haas as likely shortlist candidates.
Nvidia Shares Swing as Analysts Cut Ratings
Nvidia shares fell as much as 13% on Thursday before retail buyers stepped in and the loss narrowed to about 4%, Yahoo Finance reported. It slipped more than 2% on Friday. Yahoo Finance put Nvidia’s market value at $4.005 trillion at Thursday’s close, down from $4.498 trillion a week earlier. WIRED reports the crisis has cost the company $1 trillion in market value since the allegations surfaced.
At least ten analysts have cut the stock from Buy to Hold, according to Yahoo Finance. HSBC’s Frank Lee lowered his price target to $170 from $365, saying investor confidence had been “shaken” because the “leadership succession plan is unclear.”
Staff Pile Into a Suggestion Box Post
WIRED reports that a longtime engineer submitted an internal “suggestion box” post before the resignation, urging the board to consider employee sentiment before taking action. It has since attracted more than 1,600 comments. Tom’s Hardware described the response as thousands of employees rallying, but the figure WIRED reported is comments, not signatures, and it did not say how many people wrote them. Nvidia has more than 42,000 employees, according to Tom’s Hardware.
- “If you believe in the mission, bring back THE boss,” one anonymous commenter wrote, according to WIRED.
- “We are all humans and can make mistakes. Jensen did so many good things and he needs a second chance,” wrote another.
- “Nvidia is Nvidia because of Jensen,” an employee told WIRED.
One staffer sent a companywide email demanding transparency about the exit. “If America fails the man who helped build its future,” the email said, “then this world does not deserve Jensen Huang.” WIRED also counted about two dozen LinkedIn posts from employees supporting Huang in the hours after the announcement and found none backing his departure.
Many employees expected the board’s investigation to finish before any big change, WIRED reports. Instead, the Huang resignation came just as that inquiry had begun. Nvidia and Jones did not immediately respond to WIRED’s requests for comment. Huang still faces pressure outside the company: Bloomberg reports he is expected to testify before Congress in the coming weeks about his relationship with Alice Huang.
