Nvidia shares fell when markets reopened on Monday, after chief executive Jensen Huang admitted to an extramarital affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials describe as a suspected Chinese spy, according to Fortune and TechRadar.
Huang disclosed the affair in a weekend memo to Nvidia staff and said he was "deeply sorry," while the company's board opened an independent <a href="https://cortexplor.com/en/nvidia-board-investigation-jensen-huang-china-spy/">investigation into the matter</a>, as Cortexplor has reported. Members of the U.S. Congress have also <a href="https://cortexplor.com/en/us-congress-summons-nvidia-ceo-spy-scandal-briefing/">asked for a closed-door meeting</a> with Huang over the company's security protocols.
How markets reacted
Fortune, citing Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid, reported that Nvidia stock was down around 3.5% on platforms that track weekend pricing, even as Asian equities rallied Monday morning. Reid linked the drop specifically to concerns over the company's internal investigation into Huang, rather than to broader market conditions.
TechRadar reported a different figure, saying Nvidia shares were down about 5% in Monday's pre-market trading in New York. The two numbers come from different trading windows — weekend pricing platforms versus regular pre-market trading in New York — which explains the gap between them; neither outlet claims a single, definitive percentage figure for the drop.
Huang's personal fortune also slipped
Huang's personal fortune, tied largely to his stake in Nvidia, dropped from just over $171 billion to $150.9 billion between early last week and Thursday, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index as cited by Fortune. It had partly recovered to $154.9 billion by Friday, before the weekend's affair disclosure added a new setback, Fortune reported.
Part of a wider AI sector slide
Fortune noted that Nvidia and other AI companies had already suffered an estimated $2.5 trillion sell-off the previous week, tied to political uncertainty after Democrats won the Senate, the House and several statehouses in the midterm elections. That left Nvidia shares down 18.6% over the past month even before this latest chapter of the Huang affair, a decline Fortune calls the steepest stretch for the stock in some time.
Questions over Huang's future
Prediction market Kalshi put the odds of Huang leaving the company before July 27 at 25%, Fortune reported. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management cited in the same report, put the odds of a resignation at 50% — both are bets and estimates, not settled facts. TechRadar notes that Huang holds the largest individual stake in Nvidia and that the company, valued at around $4.5 trillion following its central role in the AI boom, has no obvious successor if he were to step down.
Despite the pressure, Nvidia's board has reiterated, according to Fortune and TechRadar, that it has "confidence in Jensen and his leadership team." U.S. President Donald Trump also defended Huang to reporters, saying he had not spoken to him about the matter but considered him "a fine person," according to Fortune. Huang, for his part, has said he is "fully committed" to Nvidia and will work to earn back the trust of the board, its partners and its shareholders in the months ahead, according to the same report.
In practice
- Who's affected: Jensen Huang, Nvidia and investors tracking the stock of the world's leading AI chip supplier.
- What changed: market reaction to the affair now compounds the board's internal investigation and congressional pressure on Huang.
- Since when: Huang disclosed the affair over the weekend of November 7-8; the stock drop was recorded when markets reopened on November 9, according to Fortune and TechRadar.
- Background: Nvidia's board is investigating the matter, and U.S. lawmakers have requested a closed-door meeting with Huang, as Cortexplor has reported.
