Investors, Musk press Nvidia to weigh Jensen Huang return

Two major Nvidia shareholders have asked the chipmaker's board not to rush into naming a permanent successor to Jensen Huang and to weigh "all options," including "the potential return of Jensen Huang." Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner posted the letter on X on Friday, Nov. 13. Atreides Management's Gavin Baker also signed it, and it calls for "a slow, measured, and deliberate process" on Nvidia's future leadership, CNBC reported. The letter did not demand that Huang be reinstated right away.cnbc.com

The pressure from shareholders follows a public push by tech leaders, Elon Musk among them, to bring back the company's co-founder. Huang left the company on Thursday, Nov. 12, after reports of extramarital affairs, including one with a woman suspected of working for Chinese intelligence.

Musk warns of lost deals

In a post on X on Saturday, Musk said Nvidia would lose "critical" deals without Huang. He said Huang had run the supply chain "brilliantly," but many agreements were "a handshake with Jensen, not a written contract," Reuters reported. On Nov. 13, Musk wrote that "a petition is underway to reinstate Jensen and I'm signing it too," according to Moneywise.reuters.com+1

The petition, an open letter called "Stand With Jensen," says it has more than 100,000 signatures, including more than 5,000 current Nvidia employees, CNBC reported. It asks the board to reinstate Huang while an independent investigation runs, to disclose the scope of that investigation and to explain the evidence behind his removal. Signers' identities are self-reported, and the list includes some entries that appear fake or duplicated, Moneywise noted. Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan is among the backers, The New York Times reported.finance.yahoo.com+2

A contested exit

Nvidia's board said Huang had resigned as president, CEO and director, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while the company searches for a permanent successor, Nvidia said. Nvidia shares fell nearly 13% at the open after the news, then recovered part of the loss by the close, SBS reported.investor.nvidia.com+1

Huang's supporters point to doubts about the spying allegations. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department had reached "no conclusions" about Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, Business Insider reported. Former White House AI czar David Sacks wrote that "the spy narrative is collapsing already," Politico reported.politico.com+1

Critics and Congress

Not everyone agrees. CNBC's Jim Cramer pointed to reports that Huang had relationships with Nvidia employees, one of them a direct report, and wrote that "there are rules about sex with subordinates," Business Insider reported.businessinsider.com

Congress is also involved. Three House committee chairs have asked Huang to sit for a closed-door interview on Dec. 1, and Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott has asked him to testify on Dec. 3, according to Moneywise. The investors' letter argues that Huang "has earned the right for a deliberate process that avoids any needless rush to replace him before all the facts are known," CNBC reported.cnbc.com+1