Hall of shame: Jensen Huang joins the list of CEOs brought down by affairs

Detailed summary

The “close personal relationship” has been the downfall of a number of chief executives over the years.

The “close personal relationship” has been the downfall of a number of chief executives over the years.

Now it has felled Jensen Huang, the founder and chief executive of Nvidia. Huang resigned following revelations that he had an affair with an executive at the company, as well as with a woman who US intelligence agencies concluded was an intelligence asset for China.

Posing a risk to national security is not the usual reason for ousting a chief executive. More often it is that a relationship was in violation of company policy.

Large companies generally have had policies that prohibit managers and direct reports from having romantic relationships. Nvidia’s code of conduct tells employees to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict”, including “personal relationships”.

“When it comes to direct reports, companies have had hard policies and have had for ages,” said Charles G. Tharp, executive vice president of the CHRO Association, a group for human resources officers.

Mark Hurd, who had helped build Hewlett-Packard into a powerhouse tech company, was fired in 2010 after its board found that he’d failed to disclose use of company funds and that he’d had a “close personal relationship” with a contractor. In 2018, Brian Krzanich resigned from Intel after the chip company learnt of a “past consensual relationship” the chief executive had with an employee.

Tech is not the only industry to be hit by scandal. Last year Ashley Buchanan was fired as chief executive of Kohl’s, the department store chain, after the company learnt that he was trying to direct business to a vendor who turned out to be his romantic partner. Buchanan was in the role for just a few months. Rodney McMullen, chief executive of grocery chain Kroger, resigned last year after an investigation by its board found that his personal conduct was inconsistent with the company’s policies.

McDonald’s went through an unusually public, years-long battle starting in 2019.

Companies likely tightened enforcement…

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