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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Faces Board Vote After Second Affair Report
Nvidia shares dropped more than 7% after the New York Times reported CEO Jensen Huang had a second affair with a direct report, putting his tenure in serious doubt.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is facing a potential board ouster after the New York Times reported on Wednesday, November 12, 2026, that he had a second affair with Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia executive who reports directly to him. The news sent shares down more than 7% to US$160.85 (roughly CAD$222) before Thursday's opening bell - putting the stock 34% below its all-time high hit just over a month ago.
The report compounds an already turbulent stretch for Huang, who has also faced prior reporting about a separate affair with a woman described as a suspected Chinese spy. Analysts say the second relationship may push the board to act.
"Stock Should Be Valued Without Him"
Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives & Co., put it plainly in a note to investors: "What seemed impossible a week ago is now a reality as we cannot see Jensen running Nvidia as CEO at this point and the stock/company should be valued without him as CEO."
That's a remarkable statement about a man who built Nvidia into a company now valued at more than $4 trillion (CAD$5.5 trillion). Huang co-founded the chipmaker in 1993 and has led it ever since, steering it from graphics cards for gamers to the dominant supplier of AI processors used by virtually every major tech company on the planet.
A Wider Ripple Through Tech
Nvidia's slide is dragging parts of the market with it. The Nasdaq Composite, which surged for most of 2026 on the back of AI optimism, has now dropped 7% over the past month - and Nvidia is a major reason why.
The company's troubles have created clear winners and losers elsewhere:
- AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) and Broadcom have both moved sharply higher as investors bet on rival chipmakers.
- CoreWeave, a data centre and cloud company in which Nvidia holds roughly 13% of shares, dropped nearly 9% on the news.
The sell-off reflects more than just leadership drama. Analysts had already been questioning whether the AI sector's blistering growth had pushed valuations into bubble territory - and Huang's personal scandals are accelerating a re-evaluation of what Nvidia is worth without its longtime CEO at the wheel.
What Comes Next
Nvidia's board has not publicly commented on the reporting or confirmed any vote is scheduled. But with two separate affairs now in the headlines - one carrying national security implications - pressure on the board to act is significant.
For Canadian investors, Nvidia has been a cornerstone holding in many tech-heavy portfolios and ETFs tracked on the TSX and through Canadian brokerage accounts. A prolonged leadership crisis at a $4-trillion company will be felt well beyond Silicon Valley, and anyone holding Nvidia-exposed funds should expect continued volatility until the board makes its position clear.