Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang abruptly resigned as president, CEO, and board member on Thursday morning, ending a 33-year tenure after a week of escalating personal and national security scandals wiped out roughly $490 billion (around Rs 47.1 lakh crore) in the company’s market value.
The crisis began over the weekend when Huang admitted to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife, confirming an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International.
US intelligence officials previously flagged suspicions that Alice Huang was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security to circumvent US chip export curbs, prompting an Nvidia board probe and an FBI investigation confirmed by President Donald Trump.
Investors reacted swiftly, driving Nvidia shares down 9.6 per cent across Monday and Tuesday, erasing over $430 billion and allowing Microsoft to overtake Nvidia as the world’s second-most valuable company.
While strong earnings from partner CoreWeave sparked a brief Wednesday rebound, sentiment collapsed after The New York Times revealed a second affair between Huang and Nvidia vice president Kimberly Powell, alongside reports that the board was preparing to oust him.
Following Huang’s exit ahead of Thursday’s opening bell—which saw CFO Colette Kress named interim CEO—Nvidia stock plunged as much as 14.3 per cent intraday, briefly pushing its valuation below $4 trillion. Shares pared losses to close at $166.19, leaving Nvidia valued at $4.01 trillion.
Meanwhile, the rout slashed Huang’s personal net worth to $144.7 billion, dropping him to 13th on the Forbes billionaires list.
