In an aftermath of his revleation of an extramarital affair with a Chinese spy, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stepped down from the post of the Chief Executive Officer. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will takeover as the interim CEO.
The company in an official statement said, it will look for a Permanent successor but will keep Huang out of the board.
“The Board is initiating a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and will consider internal and external candidates,” the statement read.
Kress has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NVIDIA since joining the company in September 2013. Prior to NVIDIA Kress spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at leading technology companies, including Cisco and Microsoft.
Pressure built up on Huang, the 63-year-old co-founder of NVIDIA, after reports earlier in the day made rounds on the internet that he had an extramarital affair with a subordinate who reported to him. The board, after reports of his second affair surfaced, met on Wednesday to consider his ouster.
Last month, a renowned media outlet reported that the US intelligence agencies uncovered a close relationship between NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Alice Huang, determining that she was passing intelligence directly to Beijing. Following NVIDIA’s announcement, an internal probe was also ordered on Sunday. US President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that the FBI was also investigating the matter.
Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s shares plunged 10% in the pre-market trading on Thursday.
Nvidia’s board named Harvey C. Jones, a former Synopsys chief executive, as its first-ever chair. Kress will keep her CFO role while serving as interim CEO. The board said it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised, and Nvidia and Megaspeed have denied wrongdoing.