According to WIRED, an employee-led effort has emerged inside NVIDIA to persuade Jensen Huang to stay. An internal poll organized by employees showed that more than 97% of participants wanted Huang to continue as CEO, and several employees urged the board to reconsider the related personnel decision.
The report said that an engineer who had worked at NVIDIA for many years had previously posted through the company's internal "suggestion box," calling on the board to fully consider employee opinions before taking action. The post later received more than 1,600 comments, with many employees expressing support for Huang and calling for his return. Other employees sent company-wide emails demanding that the board be more transparent in handling Huang's departure and publicly disclose the relevant investigation findings.
Jensen Huang is 63 years old and has held leadership roles at NVIDIA since the company was founded in 1993. Last Sunday, he sent an email to employees admitting that he had been unfaithful to his wife and saying there was no excuse. On local time Thursday morning, NVIDIA's board announced his resignation and appointed CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO, while also appointing Harvey Jones, former CEO of Synopsys, as board chair. NVIDIA's board is mainly composed of early investors and Huang's longtime confidants.
The leadership change has shocked employees. After the resignation was announced, about 20 employees posted on LinkedIn expressing support. Some employees believe that Huang's leadership is closely tied to the company's development and that the founder's departure could affect the company's future. Previously, some employees had expected the board to complete its investigation, publish the results, and seek employee input before making any major decision, but Huang left at the very beginning of the investigation.
The report said that after the related allegations emerged, NVIDIA's market value has evaporated by about $1 trillion, U.S. lawmakers and the FBI have launched investigations, and chip export controls may also tighten further. As of the report's publication, NVIDIA and new board chair Harvey Jones had not responded to requests for comment.
This controversy involves not only a management shake-up at NVIDIA, but also draws attention to the relationship between the founder's personal reputation, corporate governance mechanisms, and employee trust.
