Breaking: Jensen Huang Out Overnight | Trump Recommends Tim Cook as Successor | Extramarital Affair Exposes Executives, Board Acts Late at Night | $500 Billion in Market Value Evaporated | [US Trending] 11/12
Nvidia founder Jensen Huang suddenly resigned as CEO and board member, triggering stock market turmoil and wiping out over $500 billion in market value. The incident involves investigations into an extramarital affair and rumors of intelligence backgrounds. Coming precisely at a critical juncture when Trump is about to visit Shenzhen to attend the Xi-Trump summit and the U.S. Congress is advancing chip restrictions against China, it will have a profound impact on the global technology landscape and U.S.-China relations.
Video Link:
Full Text:
Hello everyone, and welcome to today's US Trending breaking news. I am Qi Xiaotian. A few days ago, Trump was still publicly supporting Jensen Huang, saying he is an upright person, and Musk also stood up to speak for him. But early this morning, Nvidia suddenly announced that Jensen Huang, who founded the company 33 years ago, is resigning as president, chief executive officer, and board member, effective immediately. This statement is only a few paragraphs long, not a single word is written about the reason for his resignation, and Huang himself did not issue a separate statement. How could a founder who built Nvidia into the core of global artificial intelligence suddenly lose his CEO position within a few days?
According to Nvidia's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the board of directors accepted Huang's resignation on November 11. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that this was an emergency meeting held late Wednesday night. Taking over as interim CEO is Colette Kress, the CFO who joined Nvidia in 2013, and she will continue to serve as CFO until the company finds a formal successor. Nvidia also established the position of chairman of the board for the first time, to be held by Harvey Jones, who has been on the board since 1993. In other words, Nvidia not only changed its CEO, but its top management structure has also been adjusted accordingly.
So why did Jensen Huang actually resign? First, let's look at what happened over the past few days. On November 8, Jensen Huang apologized to employees, admitting to infidelity toward his wife, though without naming the other person. The board of directors subsequently launched an independent investigation, stating at the time that he would continue to serve as CEO during the investigation. However, on November 11, The New York Times broke another affair. Citing five former NVIDIA employees, the report stated that in addition to Lori Huang, Jensen Huang also had an affair with Kimberly Powell, the Vice President of Healthcare who reported directly to him. In March of this year, the two were spotted acting intimately at a hotel in San Jose, California, and someone reportedly filmed a video. However, The New York Times stated clearly that it had not seen the video itself, and Powell did not respond to media inquiries.
Why does this matter? Because Powell is not an ordinary affair partner, but rather Jensen Huang's direct subordinate. According to NVIDIA's code of conduct, employees must avoid personal relationships that create conflicts of interest. There are already precedents in the United States: in 2018, Intel's CEO resigned for violating company rules regarding relationships with employees; in 2019, McDonald's CEO was also fired for violating company regulations on employee relationships. In other words, even without criminal offenses, a CEO can lose their position for violating internal regulations. Even more coincidently, on the same day, The Wall Street Journal reported exclusively that NVIDIA's board of directors was preparing to oust Jensen Huang, and just hours later, the resignation announcement came out. However, NVIDIA did not publicly explain the reason for the resignation, so it cannot yet be determined which relationship directly led to his departure, nor can the board's investigation be treated as a concluded finding of wrongdoing.
As for Lori Huang, U.S. officials and multiple media outlets stated that U.S. intelligence agencies regard her as a Chinese intelligence operative, but this is an intelligence assessment, not a court judgment. China's Foreign Ministry has repeatedly denied this, claiming that the United States is fabricating spy narratives. Lori Huang's true identity cannot be independently verified by U.S. trending searches. The impact of Jensen Huang's resignation on NVIDIA was immediately reflected in the stock market. According to Reuters, the Financial Times, and Caixin, when the U.S. stock market opened on November 12, NVIDIA's stock price plummeted by 13% to 14% at one point, evaporating over 500 billion dollars in market value before recovering somewhat. Wall Street analysts said that without Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's value could drop by 25%. Of course, this is merely an analyst estimate, but it also shows how worried Wall Street is. More troublingly, Jensen Huang's management style is extremely flat, with about sixty direct subordinates, and the company has no ready formal successor. Now that he has suddenly departed, NVIDIA not only faces investigations but must also resolve the succession issue as quickly as possible. The company still plans to release its financial report on November 17.
But there is a point here worth noting for Chinese audiences: Jensen Huang founded NVIDIA 33 years ago and is the company's largest individual shareholder, yet he holds only about 3.5% of the shares and lacks super-voting rights. In other words, although he founded the company, he does not have the final say alone; the board of directors could accept his resignation, file documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the next day for the whole world to see what changes occurred within the company, and the U.S. Congress could also require him to attend hearings. By comparison, in China, Ant Group's 2020 IPO was abruptly halted, and Jack Ma subsequently faded from the public eye for a considerable period; in 2023, Bao Fan, the founder of China Renaissance, went out of contact for a time before the company later announced he was cooperating with an investigation. These events certainly cannot be directly equated to Jensen Huang's resignation, but the difference is that upper-level management changes in U.S. listed companies at least have clear disclosure procedures, whereas the outside world often remains in the dark for a long time regarding major mishaps involving prominent entrepreneurs in China.
Jensen Huang's departure from Nvidia may have implications that extend well beyond Wall Street. In six days, from November 18 to 19, the APEC summit will be held in Shenzhen. Trump has confirmed his attendance and is expected to hold his third meeting with Xi Jinping this year. The South China Morning Post reported exclusively on November 10 that American business leaders, including Elon Musk, are expected to accompany Trump on his visit to China. Jensen Huang had also been in discussions to join the delegation, though variables had already emerged at that time. Trump also said on Sunday, "I don't know if I'll bring him, but I would certainly be willing to bring him." However, Jensen Huang is no longer the CEO of Nvidia. Why does this matter? Because Huang is not just the boss of a chip company; he is also one of the most influential lobbyists for relaxing U.S. restrictions on high-end chip exports to China. The head of China business at the Eurasia Group told CNBC that he is the most effective lobbyist in the entire industry against tightening export controls. Last December, Trump approved the sale of Nvidia H200 chips to China, on the condition that 25% of the sales revenue be turned over to the U.S. government, but due to slow approval processes on the Chinese side, actual shipments were limited. In May of this year, Huang also joined Trump's delegation visiting Beijing at the last minute. It can be said that while Washington has been restricting China's access to advanced chips, Huang has been working hard to secure the Chinese market for Nvidia. Now, this chip lobbyist with the most influence in the White House has left Nvidia's management.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul stated on November 12 that Jensen Huang has agreed to testify before Congress before Thanksgiving, possibly as early as next week, which happens to coincide with the Shenzhen summit. At the same time, both parties in Congress are pushing to write multiple restrictions on chip exports to China into the National Defense Authorization Act. What does this mean? Even if Trump is willing to make concessions on the chip issue, it does not mean that the U.S. Congress will necessarily agree. Huang's resignation does not mean Nvidia will stop lobbying, nor does it mean the U.S. will immediately change its chip policy, but for lawmakers who advocate for tightening exports, Nvidia has lost one of its most influential spokespeople. Trump's attitude has also shown an interesting change; a few days ago, he was publicly speaking up for Huang, but after the resignation news was announced, he recommended Apple's Tim Cook to replace Huang on Truth Social. Trump wrote that Huang has done an outstanding job, and now that he has resigned, there is only one person who can replace him, and that is Cook. A legend replacing a legend. However, this is just Trump's personal recommendation; the Nvidia board of directors has not announced that Cook will take over.
So, will this turmoil affect the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting? At present, it may not directly disrupt the talks. The China-U.S. trade truce has been extended to January 10 of next year, and both sides may still prioritize discussing how to continue maintaining the truce. But a former U.S. Department of Commerce official analyzed that Beijing might find that even if Trump is willing to make concessions on chips now, he may not be able to guarantee that his promises will be fulfilled, because the Democratic Party will control Congress starting next January, and Congress is pushing for further restrictions on chip exports to China. In other words, what Trump can promise at the negotiating table and what the U.S. will ultimately allow him to do domestically may be two different things.
On the afternoon of November 12, about six hours before the announcement of Jensen Huang's resignation, when asked whether this turmoil would affect China-U.S. relations and the leaders' meeting, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that the U.S. should stop fabricating the so-called Chinese spy narrative, while emphasizing that both China and the U.S. are maintaining close communication regarding the interaction between the leaders. Bloomberg cited anonymous sources on the same day claiming that Huang Le is currently living in Beijing and that Chinese security agencies are aware of this. However, whether she is truly in Beijing remains independently unverified by U.S. search trends. Former Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin posted on Twitter in English, accusing the New York Times' reporting of being directed by U.S. intelligence agencies, and even describing Jensen Huang's resignation as a coup against a Chinese-American tech founder. However, this is merely Hu Xijin's personal judgment, and there is currently no evidence to prove that Huang's resignation was the result of a plot by U.S. intelligence agencies.
An entrepreneur who spent 33 years building Nvidia into the core of global artificial intelligence left the CEO position within a few days, but the problems he left behind are far from over. Nvidia's board of directors faces investigations and a succession crisis, the U.S. Congress is still investigating his relationship with Huang Le, and in just six days, Trump is going to Shenzhen to meet Xi Jinping. Jensen Huang might have been on that plane, but now he is not even in Nvidia's management. Did he resign voluntarily, or did he leave under pressure from the board? Without this most influential chip lobbyist, what results can the Trump-Xi meeting in Shenzhen possibly negotiate on the chip issue? Welcome to leave your thoughts in the comment section
Today's U.S. trending search ends here, thank you all for watching
New viewers
Friends
If you like our program, please help like and subscribe
Spread these voices beyond the Great Firewall further
Friends who want to support our channel more
Can consider joining the membership of China-U.S. Benchmarking
Until next time, see you there