Update, 12 November, evening: Huang has since resigned. The board appointed chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim chief executive, and shares fell more than 10 percent in pre-market trading. See our report: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns; CFO Colette Kress named interim chief. The account below describes the board deliberation that preceded the resignation.
Nvidia’s board of directors is preparing to discuss whether Jensen Huang should remain chief executive of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, according to reports that sent the company’s shares sharply lower.
Shares fell 8.6 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported. The company is valued at about $4.2 trillion.
The board discussion was reported by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Hiru News carried the same account, noting that no final decision had been announced by Wednesday night.
What the inquiry covers
Nvidia opened an investigation on Sunday, 8 November, after Huang confirmed an intimate relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese technology executive and former executive of the Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed. US intelligence officials have alleged she was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security. She has not commented publicly, and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the allegations as “entirely groundless, speculative.”
Reporting since then has added a second strand: an extramarital relationship with an Nvidia employee. Hiru, citing The New York Times, described her as holding a senior position at the company.
Huang has admitted being “unfaithful” to his wife, apologised to his family and pledged to cooperate fully with the inquiry and to protect both Nvidia and US national security. Nvidia has said it has no reason to believe company secrets or US national security were compromised. The board has engaged outside legal counsel.
Analyst Dan Ives has estimated the stock could fall from about $300 to $225 a share were Huang to depart. Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993.
LankaNewz previously reported the opening of the investigation and the $192 billion sell-off that followed.
Not reported: neither filing says when the board will meet, who would succeed Huang, or whether the inquiry has reached any findings. The succession question was answered the following evening — Colette Kress was named interim chief executive on resignation.
