Nvidia’s board of directors is preparing to meet as soon as Wednesday to determine CEO Jensen Huang’s future and move toward ousting the company’s founder, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nvidia shares extended their after hours decline to more than 8%, wiping out over $330 billion in market value, while prediction markets priced an 80% chance that Huang leaves before July 2027 and a 73% chance he exits by year end.
The board’s move comes minutes after the New York Times reported, citing five former employees, that Huang, 63, had a previously unreported extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, 48, Nvidia’s vice president of health care and one of his direct reports. Two of the people said the pair were filmed being affectionate at a San Jose hotel during a March company conference, and three people briefed on the incident said Huang’s security team sequestered the bystander who recorded the video and offered a nondisclosure agreement. Reached by phone Wednesday, Huang told the Times, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” and hung up, while Nvidia declined to comment.
Nvidia’s 11-member board, which has no chair and includes Huang as a director, opened an independent investigation on Nov 8 led by former acting US Attorney Joon H. Kim after Huang acknowledged a separate affair with Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive who US intelligence suspects is a Chinese spy. Before the latest reports, a spokesperson had said Huang was “committed to continuing to lead NVIDIA as CEO without interruption.”