Nvidia board reportedly prepares to oust Jensen Huang as shares fall
Nvidia shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company’s board was preparing to remove CEO Jensen Huang. The report came shortly after The New York Times reported that Huang had an alleged extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care. The two were reportedly filmed behaving affectionately at a San Jose hotel in March. Nvidia and Heller, a crisis public-relations firm Huang reportedly hired, did not immediately comment.
The developments follow Huang’s admission that he had been unfaithful to his wife, saying his actions had hurt her and their children. The board has also opened an independent investigation into separate allegations involving Alice Huang, with U.S. intelligence officials reportedly believing she is a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security. Nvidia hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to examine those claims.
Powell has led Nvidia’s health-care group since 2017, overseeing technology for medical imaging, life sciences, drug discovery and health-care analytics. The business is small compared with Nvidia’s core sales of AI chips and graphics processors. The company’s stock was already down 7% for the week and was heading toward a sixth consecutive weekly decline amid wider doubts about the sustainability of the AI infrastructure boom.
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