Nvidia shares plunged 5.5% on Thursday as a sprawling boardroom crisis deepened around co-founder and former chief executive Jensen Huang.
A fresh disclosure revealed Huang engaged in an intimate relationship with a second company employee, according to people familiar with the matter. The development compounds an executive meltdown that forced his sudden exit earlier in the week. The stock has now surrendered more than 30% of its value since touching an all-time peak in early October, erasing hundreds of billions in market capitalisation as Wall Street recalculates leadership risk at the world's pre-eminent artificial intelligence hardware supplier.
The board moved quickly to contain the fallout. Finance chief Colette Kress stepped in as interim chief executive while directors search for a permanent successor across internal and external candidate pools.
The latest personnel revelations follow two prior extramarital relationships that prompted Huang's resignation on Thursday after an emergency board meeting stretched late into the evening.
Those prior ties involved Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, and Alice Huang, an individual whom United States intelligence officials suspect of operating as an asset for Chinese intelligence. Huang had issued a formal statement on November 8 acknowledging an extramarital affair following initial disclosures surrounding Alice Huang, though he stopped short of identifying her by name.
Earlier this month, the board launched an internal probe run by independent directors and outside legal counsel. The mandate: determine whether foreign intelligence services compromised Huang or breached company operations.
The board initiated an inquiry, led by independent directors with outside legal counsel, into whether Jensen Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.
Attempts to reach Powell, Alice Huang, Jensen Huang, and representatives of the Nvidia board yielded no response, while the company declined to comment on the second employee relationship.
| Executive & Market Metric | Detail / Level | Trend / Status |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday Stock Move | -5.5% | Sharp Selloff |
| Peak-to-Trough Drawdown | > 30% | Bear Market Territory |
| Benchmark Timeline Peak | Early October | Prior High Watermark |
| Interim Chief Executive | Colette Kress | Effective Immediately |
| Target of Counter-Intel Review |
But that financial scaffolding now faces unprecedented governance scrutiny. Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993, served as the primary architect of the silicon roadmap underpinning modern large language models.
Yet institutional traders dumped shares aggressively during Thursday's session, unwilling to shoulder corporate governance ambiguity alongside a foreign intelligence probe. With Kress now managing executive operations, the board faces the task of completing its external legal review while screening leadership candidates capable of stabilizing client pipelines and restoring investor confidence.
| Jensen Huang |
| Outside Counsel Directing |
| Core Hardware Ecosystem Exposure | Advanced AI Accelerator Chips | Delivery Continuity Scrutinised |