IBL News | New York
Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang next Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal predicted yesterday.
The news came minutes after The New York Times reported that Huang had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, 48, Nvidia’s Vice President of Healthcare.
Under Nvidia’s code of conduct, employees are told to “avoid situations where our actions create conflict,” including “personal relationships,” and the company states that it “promptly investigates reports of misconduct.” Many corporations have policies against managers having relationships with subordinates.
Powell joined Nvidia in 2008. According to the company’s website, she oversees programs that could apply Nvidia’s chip technology to higher education and health care, particularly medical imaging devices.
Huang and Powell were captured on camera being affectionate with one another at a hotel in San Jose, California, in March.
Both Mr. Huang and Ms. Powell are married to other people.
The report comes days after Huang admitted to an affair with a woman who is believed by U.S. intelligence to be a Chinese spy. The CEO was romantically involved with Alice Huang, who U.S. intelligence officials believe is a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security.
Jensen Huang, the leader of Nvidia, who is under investigation for an affair with a woman whom U.S. intelligence determined is a Chinese spy, also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him, according to five people who worked at the company.
The company also lacks an obvious successor or succession plan. Huang famously delegates very little and, he has said, has about 60 direct reports.
Nvidia stock fell about 8% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. The stock is down about 11% in the past five days.
Mr. Huang is among a long list of American company CEOs who have had relationships with subordinates. Brian Krzanich resigned from Intel in 2018 after acknowledging a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
The following year, McDonald’s removed Steve Easterbrook as its chief executive and later sued him after learning he had violated corporate policies by maintaining sexual relationships with multiple employees.