Nvidia plans to fire co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, who has led the company for the past 33 years, the Wall Street Journal reported. NVIDIA’s board will meet as soon as Wednesday to decide on Huang’s future at the company, people familiar with the matter told the paper.
Mr. Huang admitted on Sunday that he had an affair with a woman described by U.S. intelligence as a Chinese spy. On Wednesday night, the New York Times reported that Hwang also had an affair with one of his direct executives.
Nvidia has become one of the world’s most valuable companies by designing the chips that power the AI boom, but shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading Wednesday as the Hwang scandal continues. The stock price has fallen about 11% over the past five days.
Mr. Hwang is known for not delegating much, with only about 60 people reporting directly to him. The company also has no clear successor or succession plan. According to Bloomberg, NVIDIA is working with an outside company to identify potential CEO candidates to replace Huang.
