Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO following two extramarital affairs
Jensen Huang has reportedly resigned as Nvidia’s CEO, president and board member with immediate effect after leading the company for 33 years. The development follows reports about his alleged relationships and concerns raised by US intelligence officials over a possible foreign intelligence effort involving Alice Huang, a Chinese executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer. Officials reportedly believe she may have gathered information through her relationship with Huang, but do not believe he was aware of her alleged activities.
On November 8, Huang admitted to being unfaithful to his wife and apologised to his family and employees. Nvidia’s board subsequently launched an independent investigation into the intelligence-related reports, while stating that it had no reason to believe company secrets or national security information had been compromised. Another report also alleged that Huang had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare.
Following his reported departure, CFO Colette Kress will take over as interim CEO while continuing her finance responsibilities. Long-time director Harvey C. Jones has been appointed the company’s first board chair, and the board will consider both internal and external candidates for a permanent CEO. Nvidia shares reportedly fell more than 10% to 12% in early trading and had already declined over 23% in the previous month.
Founded in 1993 by Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, Nvidia initially focused on 3D graphics and developed modern GPUs in 1999. It became widely known for its GeForce gaming graphics cards before emerging as a major player in the artificial intelligence industry.
Jensen Huang has reportedly resigned as Nvidia’s CEO, president and board member with immediate effect after leading the company for 33 years. The development follows reports about his alleged relationships and concerns raised by US intelligence officials over a possible foreign intelligence effort involving Alice Huang, a Chinese executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer. Officials reportedly believe she may have gathered information through her relationship with Huang, but do not believe he was aware of her alleged activities.
On November 8, Huang admitted to being unfaithful to his wife and apologised to his family and employees. Nvidia’s board subsequently launched an independent investigation into the intelligence-related reports, while stating that it had no reason to believe company secrets or national security information had been compromised. Another report also alleged that Huang had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare.
Following his reported departure, CFO Colette Kress will take over as interim CEO while continuing her finance responsibilities. Long-time director Harvey C. Jones has been appointed the company’s first board chair, and the board will consider both internal and external candidates for a permanent CEO. Nvidia shares reportedly fell more than 10% to 12% in early trading and had already declined over 23% in the previous month.
Founded in 1993 by Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, Nvidia initially focused on 3D graphics and developed modern GPUs in 1999. It became widely known for its GeForce gaming graphics cards before emerging as a major player in the artificial intelligence industry.
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