Nvidia Board Reportedly Preparing to Oust CEO Jensen Huang After Second Affair Report; Shares Slide After Hours

Nvidia's board of directors is preparing to remove chief executive Jensen Huang after reports emerged of two separate extramarital affairs, including one allegedly involving a suspected Chinese spy, according to the Wall Street Journal. Nvidia shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading on Wednesday following the report, according to CNBC.

What the reports allege

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Nvidia's board is preparing to oust Huang after learning of two extramarital affairs, one of which involved a person suspected of being a Chinese spy, according to reporting from RNZ and The Straits Times, both of which attributed the account to the Journal.

Separately, and just minutes before the WSJ report, the New York Times reported that Huang had an extramarital relationship with another Nvidia executive who reported directly to him, according to CNBC's account of the Times report. That relationship was alleged to be with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care, whose company biography describes her as responsible for Nvidia's worldwide health care business, including hardware and software platforms for accelerated computing, AI and visualization used in medical imaging, life sciences, drug discovery and health care analytics, per CNBC's reporting of her bio.

According to the Times report as relayed by CNBC, Huang and Powell were reportedly captured on camera being affectionate with one another at a hotel in San Jose, California, in March. CNBC also reported that a former Nvidia employee, who asked not to be named given the sensitivity of the matter, said rumors of an affair between Huang and Powell had circulated for years, in part because Powell lacks a background in health or science.

Investigation and board timeline

CNBC reported that Nvidia's board of directors has opened an independent investigation and hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to look into the spying allegations, a detail also noted by HCAMag, which cited CNBC's reporting.

Per the Journal's reporting as cited by RNZ and The Straits Times, the board is preparing to meet as soon as Wednesday, November 11, to determine Huang's future with the company. No outcome from that meeting has been reported in the sources reviewed here.

Market reaction

CNBC reported Nvidia shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading on Wednesday following the Journal's report. The decline followed a difficult prior week for AI infrastructure names generally; CNBC noted that the AI infrastructure trade was hit particularly hard after the midterm elections, in which Democrats won sweeping majorities in both houses of Congress and dozens of ballot measures passed that could make building data centers more difficult. That backdrop is a separate, previously reported market condition and is not presented here as a cause of Wednesday's after-hours move, which the available reporting ties specifically to the ouster and affair reports.

Interpretation: A single-session after-hours decline of this magnitude on a leadership-crisis headline is consistent with markets pricing in governance uncertainty at a company whose chief executive has become closely identified with its strategy and public narrative. That is our reading of the reported price reaction, not a forecast of where shares will trade when regular trading resumes.

Unanswered questions

Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ouster report, according to CNBC, RNZ and The Straits Times. CNBC also reported that Heller, a crisis public relations firm Huang reportedly hired as early as last year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The reporting reviewed here does not identify a named successor candidate for the chief executive role, and it does not include any public comment from Huang personally addressing the allegations. Readers should treat claims about succession plans or next steps that circulate beyond the sourcing above as unverified until confirmed by Nvidia or by outlets citing named sources.

Bottom Line

Multiple outlets, citing the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, report that Nvidia's board is preparing to meet as soon as November 11 to decide Jensen Huang's future as chief executive following reports of two extramarital affairs, one allegedly involving a suspected Chinese spy. Nvidia shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading on the news, per CNBC. CNBC also reported that the board has opened an independent investigation and retained Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to examine the spying allegations. Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ouster report, according to CNBC, RNZ and The Straits Times, and no board decision or successor plan has been reported in the sourcing reviewed here.