Broken and Devastated: How Huang Stopped Clinging to His Position as Nvidia's CEO

In his final hours as Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang appeared broken and devastated, according to Bloomberg’s account of the company founder’s final day. There was no trace left of his legendary energy. After several weeks of fighting to keep his job, late on the evening of November 11, he unconditionally conceded defeat. The board of directors met online on the same day that The New York Times reported on Huang’s extramarital affair with the company’s vice president of healthcare, and left him no choice but to resign. Bloomberg was unable to reach Huang.

For decades, Huang has been known for his attention to the smallest details—from chip architecture to the compensation of the most junior employees. At Nvidia, about 60 executives reported directly to him—by standard management measures, that’s a veritable army, Bloomberg notes. Each of them was required to send Huang a letter listing their five top work priorities: this was how he checked to see if people were focused on what he considered most important.

As a rule, Huang would respond to these emails immediately, at any time of day or night. But in recent days, as the scandal has escalated, staff have had to wait longer than usual for his response, the publication notes. By the time of his resignation, Huang’s usual hands-on approach had vanished, and he began repeating “what’s the difference” and “I don’t care,” a source told Bloomberg.

On November 8, Huang sent a letter to all employees in which he admitted to his infidelity and apologized to his family. He now calls himself a “piece of s***” and insists he doesn’t care about his own fate, according to Bloomberg sources who have spoken with him in recent days. Above all, he says, he is worried about his wife and about not “ruining the lives” of several women whom rumors suggest he had affairs with.

Laurie Huang, to whom he has been married for more than 40 years, stands out among the current and former wives of influential businessmen for leading a decidedly private life, according to The New York Times. “Laurie is exceptionally modest by the standards of billionaire families,” says George Rush, a former co-author of a long-running society column in The Daily News. She finds herself among a small circle of tech moguls’ wives who have had to endure their husbands’ infidelity, which became public knowledge. Among them, the NYT names Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Nvidia's board of directors faces the difficult task of finding a replacement for Huang. Bloomberg notes that the company never established a traditional succession plan. Among the likely candidates, the publication names Lisa Su, CEO of chipmaker AMD, and René Haas, CEO of processor architecture developer Arm Holdings.

Bloomberg believes it’s unlikely anyone will be able to combine all of Huang’s roles—technologist, leader, marketer, lobbyist, and the company’s “mascot.” For better or worse, Nvidia will begin to resemble a typical company run according to standard practices, the publication concludes.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor