Nvidia Board Preparing to Oust CEO Jensen Huang as Succession Search Begins, Reports Say
Nvidia’s board of directors is preparing to remove co-founder and chief executive Jensen Huang, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, in a dramatic escalation of the crisis that has engulfed the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence chipmaker. Directors could meet as soon as Wednesday to decide Huang’s future, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Journal, and Bloomberg reported that the board is already working with an outside firm to identify potential replacements.
No decision has been announced, and Nvidia has not confirmed a departure or named an interim chief executive. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But the reports sent Nvidia shares down sharply in after-hours trading on Wednesday, wiping out the day’s gains and dragging down stock futures across the technology sector.
What the reports say
The Journal reported that Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust Huang after two reported extramarital affairs, including one with a woman U.S. intelligence officials have identified as a suspected Chinese intelligence asset. The board could meet as soon as Wednesday, November 11, to determine whether Huang stays or goes, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper.
Bloomberg added a second strand to the story: the board has been working with an outside firm to identify chief executive candidates, and directors are weighing the idea of naming a temporary chief while they search for a permanent replacement. The report, attributed to a person familiar with the situation, said the succession planning was under way even as the board’s investigation into Huang continues.
The reports arrived hours after The New York Times reported a second alleged affair involving Huang, this time with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who reports directly to him. That report, published Wednesday evening, was the subject of a separate article on this site about the second alleged affair with Kimberly Powell.
Huang has not confirmed the Powell allegation, and neither has Powell. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the reports. The first affair, with a Chinese businesswoman, was acknowledged by Huang himself on Sunday.
Shares slide after hours
Investors reacted swiftly. Nvidia shares had closed the regular session up 2.87 percent at $173.73, helped by CoreWeave’s earnings beat, which eased fears about artificial intelligence spending. After the reports emerged, the stock fell about 7 percent in after-hours trading, changing hands at $161.50 by 6:54 p.m. Eastern time, according to market data cited by Invezz. At one point in extended trading, the shares fell below $158, more than 9 percent under the close. TechCrunch and GamesBeat put the after-hours decline at about 8 percent.
The slide extended a brutal stretch for the stock. Nvidia shares are down about 11 percent in the past five days, according to TechCrunch, and the company has already lost more than $400 billion in market value over two days earlier in the crisis. At the after-hours price of about $161, Nvidia’s market value stood at roughly $3.9 trillion.
The shock spread beyond Nvidia. Nasdaq 100 futures fell around 0.8 percent and S&P 500 futures fell around 0.3 percent when trading reopened at 6 p.m. Eastern time, according to InvestingLive. Technology and artificial intelligence exchange-traded funds also traded lower after hours.
A founder with no successor
The prospect of Huang’s removal carries unusual weight because he is not an ordinary chief executive. Huang, 63, co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has led the company for all 33 years of its existence, building it from a graphics chip startup into the company whose processors power the global artificial intelligence boom.
Huang is famously hands-on, delegates very little, and has about 60 direct reports, according to TechCrunch. The company has not had an obvious successor or a succession plan, which is one reason investors are treating the board’s deliberations as a moment of genuine uncertainty rather than a routine leadership change.
That uncertainty is compounded by the timing. Nvidia is scheduled to report third-quarter results on November 17, and Republican leaders of three House committees have asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing the following day about his interactions with the woman identified as a suspected Chinese intelligence asset. Until the board speaks, the market is pricing the risk of losing the founder who has defined the company.
How the crisis reached this point
The crisis began with a New York Times report on October 29 that a Chinese businesswoman, Alice Huang, had sought close ties with the Nvidia chief executive to gather information about the company’s technology. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that she was gathering information for Beijing, according to the Times. China has denied the claim, and no U.S. authority has published a finding. No charges have been announced against anyone. Alice Huang is not related to Jensen Huang.
Related Articles
On Sunday, November 8, Huang told employees in an email that he had had an extramarital affair. “I was unfaithful to my wife,” he wrote, without naming the other person. He apologized to his family and to the company and pledged to cooperate with the board’s investigation. The board said the same day that it backed Huang while opening an independent inquiry, run by a committee of independent directors, into whether he had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort and whether any proprietary information or U.S. national security had been compromised.
On Tuesday, November 10, the board hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to run the inquiry. The investigation is led by Joon H. Kim, a former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Nvidia has said it has no evidence so far that company secrets were compromised.
The political pressure has grown alongside the board’s inquiry. Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, called on Huang to resign on Tuesday. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the FBI is looking into Huang’s affair with the businesswoman. The bureau has not commented publicly. Nvidia also faces a proposed shareholder lawsuit over the affair.
The Times’ report on Wednesday of the second alleged affair, with a senior executive inside the company, added a separate corporate governance question: whether Huang violated Nvidia’s own rules about workplace relationships. The company’s code of conduct instructs employees to avoid situations where their actions create conflicts, including personal relationships.
Why this matters
For investors, the question is no longer only about Huang’s private conduct. It is about who runs the company that sits at the center of the artificial intelligence economy. Nvidia’s chips power the data centers of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta, and its quarterly results are treated as a barometer for the entire AI trade. A sudden change at the top, with no named successor and no succession plan, would be one of the most consequential leadership transitions in the history of the technology industry.
For Washington, the affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials have identified as a suspected Chinese intelligence asset has turned a corporate scandal into a national security question. Congress is already involved, and the House briefing scheduled for November 18 will now take place against the backdrop of a board deciding the chief executive’s fate.
For the board, the dilemma is stark. Huang built Nvidia into one of the most valuable companies in the world, and removing him would be an extraordinary step. Keeping him would mean standing behind a chief executive whose conduct has already drawn a resignation call from a senator, a federal investigation, and a shareholder lawsuit.
What happens next
The immediate focus is the board meeting. The Journal reported that directors could meet as soon as Wednesday to decide Huang’s future, and Bloomberg reported that the board is weighing an interim appointment while it searches for a permanent chief executive. No announcement has been made, and the meeting’s outcome may not be public until Thursday.
Nvidia’s third-quarter results on November 17 will be the next scheduled test. Analysts and investors will be listening for any comment on the leadership situation, and the House briefing the following day will put Huang’s interactions with the businesswoman under further scrutiny.
Until the board acts, the reporting remains just that: reporting. The Journal and Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter, and Nvidia has not confirmed any of it. But the market has already rendered a verdict on the risk, and the board’s decision, whenever it comes, will shape the future of the company that powers the AI boom.
Frequently asked questions
Is Jensen Huang still Nvidia’s CEO?
Yes, as of Wednesday evening. The Wall Street Journal reported that the board is preparing to remove him and could meet as soon as Wednesday to decide his future, but no decision has been announced and Nvidia has not confirmed a departure.
Why is Nvidia’s board considering removing Huang?
According to the Journal, the board is acting after reports of two extramarital affairs, including one with a woman U.S. intelligence officials have identified as a suspected Chinese intelligence asset, and a second alleged affair with Kimberly Powell, a senior Nvidia executive who reports to him. The board is also running an independent investigation into whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort.
Who would replace Huang if he is removed?
No successor has been named. Bloomberg reported that the board is working with an outside firm to identify chief executive candidates and is weighing naming a temporary chief while it searches for a permanent replacement. Huang has about 60 direct reports and the company has no obvious successor, according to TechCrunch.
How far has Nvidia’s stock fallen?
Shares closed Wednesday’s regular session up 2.87 percent at $173.73, then fell about 7 to 8 percent in after-hours trading to around $161.50. The stock is down about 11 percent in the past five days.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal (via TechCrunch, GamesBeat, Invezz, InvestingLive); Bloomberg (via Bloomberg Tax, TechCrunch); TechCrunch; GamesBeat; Invezz; InvestingLive; The New York Times (via TechCrunch, GamesBeat).
