Nvidia Employees Push Board to Bring Back Jensen Huang: Report
In brief
- An internal Nvidia "suggestion box" post urging the board to consider employee sentiment has drawn more than 1,600 comments, according to Wired.
- Several commenters asked the board to bring back former CEO Jensen Huang, and one employee sent a companywide email demanding transparency over his exit.
- Huang resigned on Thursday after reports of relationships with a suspected Chinese spy and an Nvidia executive; Reuters has since reported a third relationship.
Some Nvidia employees are calling on the company's board to bring back Jensen Huang, days after he resigned as CEO following reports of extramarital relationships, according to internal correspondence reviewed by Wired.
An internal "suggestion box" post, submitted by a longtime engineer prior to Huang's resignation, urged the board to take employee sentiment into account before acting, Wired reported. It has since drawn more than 1,600 comments, several of which asked the board to find a way to reinstate Huang. "If you believe in the mission, bring back THE boss," one anonymous commenter wrote.
The post also called on the board to share the findings of its investigation with staff and to formally seek their views on Huang continuing as CEO. One employee went further, sending a companywide email demanding transparency about Huang's exit and declaring: "I stand by Jensen."
In the hours following Huang's departure, some two dozen Nvidia employees posted supportive messages on LinkedIn, while Wired said it could not find any employee posts backing his departure. The engineer behind the suggestion box post declined to comment, and Nvidia and its new board chair, Harvey Jones, did not immediately respond to the outlet.
Huang's exit
Huang resigned as Nvidia's president, CEO and a board member on Thursday, ending a 33-year tenure at the company he co-founded. Chief financial officer Colette Kress is serving as interim CEO, and Jones, a former CEO of Synopsys, became the board's first chair. Nvidia did not give a reason for the resignation.
Huang told staff on Sunday that he had been "unfaithful" to his wife, without naming anyone.
The New York Times had reported in October that surveillance of Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, indicated that she had developed a "close relationship" with the Nvidia CEO. Per the Times, U.S. officials concluded she was a Chinese intelligence asset, while the Financial Times reported that a U.S. memo said the two had been romantically involved. China has denied that she is a spy.
Alice Huang was CEO and chair of Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer, and was investigated by Singapore police over possible false declarations relating to the company's server purchases, the country's Ministry of Home Affairs said on Thursday. She was not investigated for espionage, it said.
Police found insufficient evidence that she had committed any offenses, but concluded she had knowingly given them inaccurate information to downplay her role at Megaspeed, according to the ministry. She was issued a stern warning, left Singapore in February and was barred from returning. Investigations into Megaspeed and six other people are ongoing.
Alice Huang is now living in Beijing with the knowledge of security officials, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that the Justice Department had not yet concluded whether Huang was a spy, and that the FBI was investigating the reports, according to Reuters, which was unable to reach her for comment.
On Wednesday, the Times reported that Jensen Huang had also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care, who reported directly to him. Powell has not commented.
On Thursday, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter, that Huang had an intimate relationship with a second Nvidia employee, whom it did not name. Nvidia declined to comment to Reuters, and Huang and a representative for the board did not respond. Huang has not commented on the reports since his Sunday email, according to Wired.
Support outside Nvidia
The calls inside Nvidia echo criticism of the board's decision from tech and crypto figures. Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao called it a mistake for Nvidia to let Huang resign, while Elon Musk said hiring him would be "an honor."
Huang still faces scrutiny in Washington. Congressional committees have asked him to sit for a closed-door interview on December 1 and to testify at a Senate hearing on December 3, as lawmakers examine Nvidia's chip exports to China.
He and Nvidia also face a proposed shareholder class action over his alleged ties to Alice Huang.
Nvidia reports quarterly earnings on Tuesday, the first under Kress.
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