Nvidia working with outside firm to identify CEO candidates

Detailed summary

Nvidia board weighs CEO succession plan after reports of Jensen Huang’s alleged affairs and scrutiny over company governance. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Nvidia’s board has been facing a succession crisis since Nov 8, when chief executive Jensen Huang admitted that he had an affair.

Nvidia’s board has been working with an outside firm to identify potential replacements for chief executive Jensen Huang following reports of multiple extramarital affairs, including one with a woman who is reportedly suspected of spying for China, a person familiar with the situation said.

The board is weighing the idea of naming a temporary chief while searching for a permanent one, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is not public.

Directors were meeting on Nov 11 to discuss Huang’s fate, according to people familiar with the situation.

The Wall Street Journal said earlier that the board was preparing to oust Huang, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Nvidia’s board has been facing a succession crisis since Nov 8 when Huang admitted that he had an affair with Alice Huang, a data centre executive at a company that is one of Nvidia’s largest South-east Asian customers.

The New York Times has reported that Alice Huang was suspected of operating as an agent on behalf of the Chinese government.

The crisis escalated late on Nov 11, when the Times reported that Jensen Huang also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice-president of healthcare, citing unidentified people who worked at the company.

The disclosure and subsequent reports have left the board with a difficult option: ousting the founder and only person to have run Nvidia, firing an executive who – at least until recently – had commanded widespread respect of shareholders and customers alike, and who had overseen a surge of more than 700,000% in the company’s share price.

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