Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s disastrous scandal and subsequent resignation have thrown the AI chipmaker’s fortunes into chaos.
The company’s shares slid over five percent on Thursday after the company announced it cut ties with Huang following weeks of embarrassing revelations, including two extramarital affairs. Huang admitted to cheating on his wife on Sunday with a woman who’s suspected to be a spy for China. Then on Wednesday, the New York Times revealed that he had a second affair with Nvidia president of healthcare Kimberly Powell, amidst growing calls for his resignation.
The news of his ouster sent shockwaves across Wall Street that capstone a grim year for the company. At the time of writing, Nvidia’s stock is down almost 30 percent in the last month alone and over 14 percent over the last 12 months, meaning that anybody, who bought shares in November 2025 would be out of a lot of money.
“The most expensive shag in the history of humanity,” joked economics professor Justin Wolfers.
It’s a significant development because the entire AI industry relies on powerful chips produced by Nvidia. And whether the company will be able to contain the fallout of its scandals-plagued CEO remains to be seen.
Analysts remain divided. Some trust Nvidia to survive the ordeal, with CFO Colette Kress taking over the reins as interim CEO. Besides, it’s not like Wall Street has ever cared about infidelity.
Others worry about future market jitters amidst fears of a flood of new government investigations as allegations of Nvidia facilitating the smuggling of its chips into China grow.
“I think the market can survive without positive results from Nvidia in the short term,” SoFi chief marketing strategist Liz Thomas told Yahoo Finance. “It does bring into question what we’ve been talking about for the last, better part of the last year, which is a lot of these circular relationships.”
At the same time, Thomas worries that without Huang, who founded Nvidia in 1993 at the age of 30, the company could lose its way.
“What happens without the visionary?” she told Yahoo Finance, likening his career to the reign of Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs.
Some see the writing on the wall. For one, Bernstein slashed its price target on the stock in half, from $400 to $200.
“Jensen is Nvidia, right?” Bernstein senior analyst Stacy Rasgon told CNBC. “He is the visionary. The reason they’re in the position that they’re in today is because he made decisions ten years ago.”
Meanwhile, after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said it would be an “honor” to hire the disgraced Nvidia founder on Wednesday evening, the rocket company’s shares jumped — indicating plenty of lingering enthusiasm for a man who has thoroughly made a mockery of himself.
More on the scandal: Can We Just Take a Moment to Reflect on How Horrible It Is That Jensen Huang Cheated on His Wife Who Had Supported Him for So Many Decades as He Rose to Incredible Power and Fame?