Nvidia’s Jensen Huang has resigned from the company, following accusations of the CEO having an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, and subsequent details of a second alleged affair emerging.
The Board of Directors announced that the resignation is effective immediately, and that Colette Kress, who is currently Chief Financial Officer of Nvidia, will be the interim CEO.
In a press statement, Nvidia said: “Kress will continue to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer while serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer until a permanent successor has been named.”
The board also said that a search for a new permanent CEO has begun, and that the successor to Huang could be either an internal appointment, or an external candidate could get the job.
Because of the importance of both Huang and Nvidia in the tech industry, there could be a lot of fallout from this, so we'll be keeping this story updated live as more information and and reaction to this news emerges.
Huang has been married to his wife Lori since 1985, so his admission of an affair was a shock, so when there were reports that he had been having a second extra marital affair, this time with someone working at Nvidia, it quickly became apparent that Huang's position was no longer tenable.
Even so, the suddenness of his removal has also been shocking. Nvidia's board of directors issued a statement saying: “Jensen’s contributions to Nvidia are profound. Nvidia is one of the most consequential technology companies in the world. The board and the company thank Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry."
US intelligence has been watching Alice Huang, and accused her of being a Chinese intelligence asset. The information behind this accusation is confidential, but it has added an extra layer of drama and betrayal to this whole saga.
After this disclosure, Nvidia's valuation plummeted by $430bn, and the company appointed an external law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct a “thorough and independent” investigation.
Still, Jensen Huang is such an important and integral part of Nvidia and its success that it was still difficult to imagine him not being CEO.
This whole debacle started when Huang admitted that he had formed a "close relationship" with Alice Huang, who was once an executive of Megaspeed, a Singaporean company that is a customer of Nvidia.
In a message to his then-employees, Jensen Huang wrote that "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children."
But this was just the start.
Outside of Apple's CEOs and AI leaders, Jensen Huang was arguably the most recognisable tech CEO. In his trademark black leather jacket, he successfully made Nvidia the dominant player in consumer gaming graphics cards, before pivoting to AI chip powerhouse.
This made Nvidia one of the most successful companies in the world, so the importance of this dramatic fall from grace really can't be understated.
For some background about what's led to this, check out our article by Lance Ulanoff on why this is more than just a tech soap opera.