Will Jensen Huang Step Down as Nvidia CEO? Polymarket Odds Hit 88% - Coinpedia
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's position is under serious pressure after a report alleged a second extramarital relationship with a senior company executive, with Polymarket traders putting his exit odds at 88%.
A recent report by The New York Times claims that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had a second extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, 48, the company's vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to him. Huang is already under investigation over reports of a relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed, whom U.S. intelligence identified as a suspected Chinese spy.
The second affair has raised concerns over a possible breach of Nvidia's code of conduct, which tells employees to avoid personal relationships that could create conflicts of interest. Similar issues have led to other high-profile CEOs losing their jobs.
Market Reaction
This news has affected Nvidia shares, which fell more than 10% within hours of the news. NVDA was trading at $173.70. Meanwhile, Polymarket odds of Huang resigning or being removed by the end of 2026 briefly reached 88%. On Kalshi, traders put the odds of him leaving the CEO role by December 1 at 80%.
Board Meeting
On November 11, Nvidia's board reportedly held a closed-door emergency meeting to decide whether Jensen Huang should remain CEO. Nvidia has 11 board members, 10 of whom are independent directors. Under the company's rules, a simple majority of the independent directors can remove Huang as CEO, with or without cause.
The board hired Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz on November 10 to investigate both matters. The investigation will cover both his reported relationship with Alice Huang and the newly reported relationship with Nvidia Vice President Kimberly Powell.
Potential Successors
Nvidia has not named an official successor, but several executives are being discussed as possible replacements. Colette Kress, Nvidia's CFO, is reportedly the leading internal candidate for an interim role. Ian Buck, a senior AI executive who has played a major role in Nvidia's CUDA ecosystem, is also being considered as a potential long-term successor.
Other names being discussed include hardware engineering executive Andrew Bell, Nvidia executives Jeff Fisher and Bryan Catanzaro, co-founder Chris Malachowsky, and Rene Haas, CEO of Arm. External candidates include Lisa Su (AMD), Thomas Kurian (Google Cloud), Matt Garman (AWS), Tim Cook (Apple), and Eric Schmidt (former Google CEO).
The board's decision will determine whether the company enters a new leadership era just days before its November 17 quarter third earnings report.
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