WSJ: Nvidia’s Board Is Preparing to Oust CEO Jensen Huang. No Decision Has Been Announced
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, November 11, that Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust founder and CEO Jensen Huang. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter and said the board could meet as soon as Wednesday to decide his future, according to Reuters.
Nothing has been announced. As of 3 PM Pacific on November 11, Nvidia had not issued a statement or a filing, and Huang was still CEO. Reuters said Nvidia did not immediately respond to its request for comment.
What was reported on November 11
- The Wall Street Journal: the board is preparing to oust Huang after he had two extramarital affairs, one of them with a woman the paper describes as a suspected Chinese spy. The Journal’s sources are unnamed. Reuters relayed the report and did not say it had confirmed it independently.
- The New York Times: earlier the same day, the Times reported that Huang had a relationship with an Nvidia executive who reports to him, according to the San Francisco Standard and Yahoo Finance. The Times named the executive. We are not repeating the name, because the coverage we read carried no response from her, from Huang or from Nvidia.
- The stock: Nvidia shares were down about 8% in after-hours trading on November 11, Reuters reported.
What is on the record
- November 8: Huang told Nvidia staff in a letter, “I was unfaithful to my wife.” We covered that in our earlier story. His letter did not name anyone and did not mention spying.
- November 8: Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation, run by independent directors with outside counsel. It said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised,” and that it had confidence in Huang.
- November 8: Nvidia told CNBC, “Jensen is committed to continuing to lead NVIDIA as CEO without interruption.” That statement came three days before the Journal’s report.
- No one has been charged with anything. The spy allegation started with a Financial Times report that cited US officials.
Would this board really remove him?
Hours before the Journal’s report, Fortune published a look at the 11-member board. Three directors, including Huang, have served since Nvidia was founded in 1993. Georgetown professor Jason Schloetzer told Fortune he expected a “stay, with less” outcome, such as naming a clear second-in-command. Santa Clara University professor Jo-Ellen Pozner called it a “captive board” and doubted it would sanction him.
The Journal’s report points the other way. Both can’t be right, and only the board knows which is.
Who would run Nvidia?
Nvidia has never publicly named a successor. On November 10, CFO Dive reported that some observers see CFO Colette Kress as a possible interim CEO. Executive recruiter Shawn Cole of Cowen Partners said that would “have a stabilizing impact on the business.” Nvidia has not named anyone.
PCGeek’s take
Treat this as a report, not a firing. The Journal is a serious paper and the stock reacted, but the sourcing is anonymous and the board has said nothing since November 8. If it happens, it would be one of the biggest CEO exits in tech history, at the company whose chips sit under most of the AI boom and inside a lot of our gaming PCs. Your RTX card won’t change overnight either way. Nvidia’s roadmap, pricing and AI strategy over the next few years could.
What to watch: a statement from the board or an SEC filing. Until one of those appears, nothing has officially changed. We’ll update this post when Nvidia speaks.
Cover photo: Nvidia sign in Santa Clara by Will Buckner, CC BY 2.0 (2020 file photo).
Do you think Nvidia’s board will actually remove Jensen Huang? And would Nvidia be the same company without him? Tell us in the comments, and Follow @pcgeekinfo for updates.
