Topline
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned Thursday morning amid scandals over multiple alleged affairs, including with a suspected asset to the Chinese government, part of a tumultuous week for the billionaire, who’s still coming under increasing scrutiny as his 12-figure wealth takes a $20 billion hit.
Jensen Huang’s net worth has taken a dive over the course of a tumultuous week that ended with his resignation.
Illustration by Fernando Capeto for Forbes, Photo by Soeren Stache via Picture Alliance/Getty Images
Timeline
Billionaire investor Leo KuGuan, previously a significant investor in Nvidia, said he would stop investing in Nvidia following Huang’s resignation, telling Bloomberg on Friday, “No further investment without Jensen,” also saying on X he would instead “invest more in other si companies,” using President Donald Trump’s preferred term for artificial intelligence, “super intelligence” or “SI.”
Hours after Huang’s resignation, Reuters reported the ousted CEO had a relationship with a second Nvidia employee, marking the third affair Huang is alleged to have had.
Nvidia announced Huang’s immediate resignation as president and CEO and from the company’s board, naming Colette Kress as the interim CEO and Harvey C. Jones as chairman of the board.
Huang has not yet commented on his resignation, though the New York Times reported Thursday afternoon he’s retained attorneys from law firm Paul Weiss.
Huang’s net worth took a 10% dive upon market open as the company’s stock price tumbled amid the news, dropping from $151 billion to $135 billion at market open.
The New York Times reports Huang had a second affair with Nvidia’s vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell, which he has not yet confirmed—saying only, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” when reached for comment by the Times.
Congress ramped up its investigation into Huang and his relationship with Alice Huang, with Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., who chairs the House China Committee, telling Fox Business that Huang had until the end of the day Wednesday to respond to a letter from lawmakers requesting information, or else he would be subpoenaed.
Reports shortly after news of the second affair broke suggested Nvidia’s board was prepared to oust Huang as the company’s CEO, with the Wall Street Journal reporting the board could decide the CEO’s fate as soon as Wednesday evening.
Huang officially fell out of Forbes ranking of the 10 richest people in the world as Nvidia’s stock price—and his net worth by extension—sank amid the scandals, putting him below Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison.
Huang pulled out of speaking engagements planned for this week as scrutiny on him intensified, with TechCrunch reporting he cancelled planned appearances at the ElevenLabs Summit and Anthropic CEO Forum.
Nvidia’s stock dropped 7% in premarket trading and more than 7% at market open on Monday, the first trading day after the investigation into Huang was revealed, with Huang’s net worth falling $7.4 billion in the first half-hour of trading and briefly kicking him off the list of the top 10 richest people before the stock slightly rebounded.
Nvidia’s board announced it was investigating whether Huang was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort” after The New York Times first reported his alleged relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen whom the U.S. government believes may be an asset to the Chinese government.
Huang confirmed the affair in a statement to employees Sunday, saying he was “unfaithful to my wife” and vowing to cooperate with the probe, telling employees he was “fully committed to Nvidia and will work to earn back your confidence.”
Moolenaar and other lawmakers on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs sent a formal request to Huang for him to brief lawmakers on his relationship with Alice Huang, arguing the reports of their relationship “raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information.”
The Times first reported Huang has a “close relationship” with Alice Huang, an executive at data center company Megaspeed whom U.S. officials had “concluded … was a Chinese intelligence asset, funneling information to Beijing.”
The report noted the two had been spotted socializing, but did not characterize their relationship as a romantic affair.
Trump was first informed that Huang had a social relationship with Alice Huang and she was believed to be a “Chinese intelligence asset,” but the Times reports the president chose not to take any further action.
The federal government first began its investigation into Alice Huang’s company Megaspeed, with the Times reporting the probe was transferred from the Commerce Department to the Justice Department in 2025 amid concerns Alice Huang could be helping China access more advanced AI chips and funneling intelligence to Beijing.
Huang was spotted with Alice Huang for the first time at a dinner with colleagues at a restaurant in Singapore; the Times notes it’s still unclear when they first met and their relationship began.
What to Watch for
Huang’s resignation is expected to have reverberating effects both at Nvidia and beyond, with tech analyst Dan Ives predicting the CEO’s ouster could cause the company’s value to fall by 25% to 30%. In an analyst note before Huang’s resignation was announced, Ives projected “Nvidia is worth a lot less” without the CEO and Huang’s ouster “would change the future direction of the company and create a dramatically different competitive environment around AI GPUs both in the US and globally especially for China.” Analysts cited by Reuters also noted Huang’s departure could impact the AI industry more broadly. Nvidia has poured money into other AI companies, which could be threatened by any hit to the company in the wake of Huang’s ouster, and Michael Feldman, portfolio manager at ClearBridge Investments, told Reuters the CEO had been “the chief conductor of an extraordinarily complex system.” Congressional scrutiny of Nvidia and Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang is also likely to ramp up, particularly once Democrats take control of Congress next year. “Huang’s decision to resign does not absolve him, other executives, or the company as a whole of responsibility for putting our national security at risk or for any potential violations of our laws,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Thursday.
Forbes Valuation
Forbes values Huang’s net worth at $142.9 billion as of 12:45 p.m. EST, with his wealth slightly rebounding after Nvidia’s stock price plunged at market open. He remains off the list of the world’s 10 richest people, and Forbes currently ranks him as the 13th richest person in the world. Huang’s wealth is based on a more than 3.5% stake in Nvidia, and the company did not give any indication Thursday that he will divest his shares or lose his stake in the company after resigning. Nvidia has not yet responded to a request for comment on the status of his shares, which financial documents suggest are held in a trust that he controls jointly with his wife Lori Huang. He does not have voting power through his Nvidia shares, according to the Times.
What We Don’t Know: Will Jensen Huang Get A Divorce?
The reports of Huang’s affairs have ramped up speculation that he could divorce Lori, whom he met when they were students. They have been married since the mid-1980s. If that happens, Lori could get a substantial share of her husband’s riches, particularly given that financial documents suggest they jointly hold their stake in Nvidia. California is also a “community property” state, meaning that shared property is typically split 50/50 in a divorce, though it’s still unclear if the couple has a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement that could carve out some assets as being separate.
Further Reading
Jensen Huang Out At Nvidia After Affair Scandals (Forbes)
Nvidia Sinks 11% At Open After Jensen Huang Resigns—Pushing Market Cap Below Microsoft (Forbes)
Jensen Huang Is No Longer Among World’s 10 Richest As Nvidia Slump Continues (Forbes)
Nvidia Investigating CEO Jensen Huang’s Relationship With Alleged Chinese Spy After He Admits Affair (Forbes)