Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia's CEO on Thursday morning, CNBC reported, following reports of an affair with an Nvidia executive who reported to him. Hours later, Reuters reported that he had an "intimate relationship" with a second employee, according to CNBC. The revelations came days after Huang admitted to an affair with an executive at a Singapore-based cloud computing company whom U.S. intelligence agencies suspect of spying for China. Nvidia named longtime CFO Colette Kress interim CEO.
Nvidia shares ended Thursday down more than 4% after falling more than 14% at the morning lows, bringing the stock's losses this year to 12%, CNBC reported. AMD shares rose almost 6%, their fifth straight gain. CNBC reported that investigations into Huang's conduct and possible violations of U.S. chip export restrictions could result in sanctions that hurt Nvidia's international business. Nvidia reports earnings Tuesday evening.
CNBC host Jim Cramer said Huang's departure was necessary to protect the company and praised Kress's grasp of Nvidia's operations. He suggested that new leadership could cash in on equity stakes such as Nvidia's $5 billion Intel investment and $2 billion CoreWeave investment. Cramer's Investing Club downgraded Nvidia to a hold-equivalent rating on Tuesday. Nvidia did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.
