Nvidia employees petition to bring back Jensen Huang

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Nvidia employees petition to bring back Jensen Huang

lavendermon

Comments (579)

soundworlds
> "We are all humans and can make mistakes. Jensen did so many good things and he needs a second chance,” wrote another.I think if it was one affair, this would hold. It is allegedly 3 and counting, and includes a likely spy from a rival nation, and likely knowledge of selling to the rival nation despite the current laws.You can think he is amazing at many parts of this job, but at this point it is less of a mistake, and more a pattern of behavior that he knew was hugely risky and decided to cover up.This is a terrible time for Nvidia employees. But the solution is not to invite the cause of the terrible time back in.
dantillberg
Jensen's not coming back anytime soon. You can disregard/diminish the affairs, and you can believe that the "spy" angle is overblown/wrong.But Jensen Huang has admitted to a longstanding affair with the CEO of a company that appears to exist only to evade ITAR restrictions. It's just impossible to believe that Jensen did not know what MegaSpeed was doing. While by all appearances he facilitated and benefited from it personally.And one can also believe that ITAR restrictions on GPU sales are dumb, but evading them still counts as selling sensitive weapons to the enemy, both legally and politically.
vanelsas
I find it difficult to understand that character doesn't seem to matter anymore in this time and age. If a person cheats on his wife, do you not think he will cheat anywhere else? Do you believe that a person in power having an affair with an employee is ok?I guess, once you have been subjected to the infinite horrible examples set by the current president of the USA, this seems like just another day at the office.I prefer a world where character, integrity and honesty still matter.
jmathai
I imagine there's a lot of mixed emotions at Nvidia. Jensen seemed to have a very likable persona about him and he truly was a great CEO of the company. I imagine many looked up to him and are left to make sense of the past week.They've also taken a pretty big pay cut this week and potentially into the future.
rbanffy
My biggest concern is the engineering competence of the new CEO. A company like Nvidia, which depends deeply in its engineering, needs an engineer, or someone who understands how fundamental engineering is to the company, guiding it. Boeing comes to mind as an example of what happens when engineering is no longer the major factor driving corporate decisions.I understand the broken trust between Huang and the board, and how it makes things difficult when the body in charge of keeping him honest seemingly can't, but that doesn't change the structural concern above.Isn't there anyone with the engineering chops to succeed him? Was the CFO really the right person?
joegibbs
I see where they’re coming from. Is the CEO in the position to be an upstanding moral citizen and flawless in his person life or is his job to increase the size of the business and returns to shareholders? If it’s not actually damaging to the company’s reputation and it will lose value without him…On the other hand the potential spy stuff and corruption is quite worrying.
PsycorAI
I loved and admired Jensen. He and his team's vision, energy, positivity and ingenuity have kept other companies scrambling to catch up for decades - since 1993!If the investigation finds he didn't divulge secrets or participate in moving chips to China I'd like to see him brought back by popular demand of his team, and also investors.Hopefully Nvidia will survive and thrive. After all Apple sort of survived the passing of Steve Jobs, ..after a while.
cekanoni
This will never happen, only if whole management and employees do a big protest and stop working unless he is back.
StrangeClone
Great work! He is one of the exceptional visionary CEO who avoided mass layoffs and grew company with least immoral business decisions. Now it's time for employees to support him.
vanh4lt
I am not from the USA. So I would love some opinions.- How certain are reports about spies in general? There has been reports lately, that I have seen, involving spies. For example the one in SF... - Would it be wise to think that there are powerful people that want him out of the company? Because the affair is one thing, but there is an accusation that should be investigated, right? - He has been too many years in the company... this is not the first personal issue we can judge him about. Why now?Thanks!
contemporary343
Just curious, for those saying it’s no big deal, is there a number of direct reports/ subordinates a CEO is having affairs with that would cause you to have concerns about a CEO? Right now it’s 2 known. What about 5? 10? 50? (Over decades).What if the affair was with the executive of a customer who is also responsible for redirecting assets to a hostile nation state? Would this CEO be vulnerable to blackmail? Are you sure this is the only vulnerability he has?Is it possible the board is now privy to details and information these employees may not know? Fiduciary duty does have a meaning.
xbmcuser
Well when its all said and done Nvidia is Jensen and Jensen is Nvidia. With him gone Nvidia will get into the hands of pure bean counters that will probably kill support for things like nvidia shield and geforce now etc.
croissants
The article is vague about the number of petitioning employees. The source is an internal post proposing to bring him back that has 1600+ comments, of which "many" are supportive.Nvidia has 40k+ employees. Maybe the petition will grow, but I wouldn't draw any strong conclusions about how the bulk of the company feels yet.Gotta look at those denominators!
y6543987
much ado about nothing. private life scandalised.
imartin2k
He is simply untrustworthy now. He could not say or do anything related to China without suspicions about his motives. There is also quite a risk that Alice has taken compromising photos of him, which could be used to blackmail him.He should have been more paranoid. That he wasn’t makes him unfit to be CEO of Nvidia.
puskavi
They know that alternative is going to be much worse
bvcp
nvidias legendary run will end. you cant hire founders enthusiasm or care. they will replace him with a robot who will layer responsibility and insulate themselves and play earnings season. id hate to be a nvidia shareholder.
cmiles8
It appears this is about a lot more than just cheating on his wife. It’s likely going to get a lot worse before it gets better and any thinking that he’s coming back is incredibly naive.
frexs
Nvidia will eventually turn into Intel if board settles on CFO being permanent CEO
nmstoker
Time for Satya Nadella to do what he did for Sam Altman?It will be particularly interesting to see what happens if Tuesdays results come in very strong. But as others say, it's the issue around the knowledge of sales to China that's the insurmountable issue.
afavour
A lot of people became millionaires during his tenure, suppose it’s not surprising that brings a lot of loyalty. Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right move for the company though.
jbs789
This is not about employees. The board is in CYA mode.
zergrush
why are people concerned about his personal life then his competency that his own workers and industry vouches for?who benefits from neutering nvidia like this?
anon
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vincnetas
i think some people are too allergic to idea of people sleeping with other people. not that this affected his performance at his position. its like some muslims getting upset that ceo or my company eats pork. its personal preference not something affecting business. French i heard are more tolerant of this.
stavros
https://archive.is/2UlmY
Glyptodon
Are enough of their employees able to just skip out with millions in stock if they're not happy about this that the board might feel forced to listen?
anon
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Bluestein
This reminds me of the entire debate about "the artist and his art".-He is a one-of-a-kind genius.-PS. Do we at some point (and, I am addressing he cover-ups here, not the affairs) face the fact that many of the same qualities that make a successful CEO might be antisocial? (a point of course, much researched ...)Beyond that (and I think this needs to be mentioned - not to condone him, but to examine this), there's an "elephant" in this room (buried, of course, underneath the many layers and magnitude of all this): Here's an atypical, bullied, almost-outcast type - who grew up under conditions, lets say, not leading to much interpersonal expression, particularly with the opposite sex ...... who is now, literally, on top of the world. Something was going to give.-
seydor
the thing is we will need to forget about cheap chinese models for a while , but on the other hand this is a big push to Beijing's strategy to push for local AI chip development. Perhaps this will give us the cheap and abundant processors we ve been lacking.
twodave
It's not about him making some mistakes. If he is contrite and gets the help he and his family need him to get then he will find his way out of the mess. Whether his marriage survives is up to how he responds and how much patience his wife has. That's separate from what he's done professionally, which have different consequences. If you don't fire him you are basically telling him he's untouchable.
jokoon
sorry to ask, but what sort of secret or insider information would those spies get from him?
cetinsert
This a blatant takeover of Nvidia and nothing less. Look at the early life of the "interim" CFO→CEO.
sagarpatil
Nvidia is nothing without its founder.
lofaszvanitt
Will he make another company from the ground up? :)
rramadass
This video maybe explains the reason ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pnq4m6PLjM
andrewstuart
The problem is the whole story hasn’t come out.
blini-kot
> employees petition to bring back jensen huangas always in any organization there are absolute drones who have the everyday startegy of demonstration of loyalty, especially - like this case - when there is no reprecussion possibleI despise them
EagnaIonat
I've seen an influx of bring him back on reddit and other areas. It has a bot vibe to it.
ex-aws-dude
My main takeaway is how HNers seem to decide what they want to believe, then work backwards from it to form a justificationYou could have the exact same situation with a different company/CEO and the HN comments would be completely different
FrustratedMonky
Billionaires gonna have affairs. All of them. It's the natural order. Some are just more careful, but they have pretty public lives to that can be difficult.Its human nature. Give someone unlimited power/money, and everyone would morph their morality.So maybe, think about reducing the number of billionaires, rather than holding them to some standard that will never happen.What billionaires do, is un-preventable, need to not have billionaires.
comrade1234
Why? Seriously why would you take part in this? This shows bad judgement.
sidcool
This seems delusional of the employees. Kneejerk impulsive reaction.
Henchman21
Coming back? He should be tried for treason.
billbuild
This should age like milk. I bet Jensen wouldn't even sign this petition. No way, it was just one, I mean two, okay three affairs but that was all, I pinky promise. Imagine how many failed approaches and warnings there were, that went silent because it wasn't plausible. It certainly is now and these people would be compensated for their account. We haven't even heard his wife's account yet which may paint him in a glowing or very dark light in the sphere or public opinion. Jensen blew it.
epsteingpt
Can NVIDIA have a Sam Altman moment?
wwizo
Does Jensen want back?This gentleman definitely needs some time off the spotlight. He did his job well, worked very hard for the company he built, and in doing so abandoned his personal life, his family. Mending this mess will take time, effort and focus. And - at least by a public statements - this is his top priority now."Daddy went home with his real family, boys.."
capitanazo77
Dont you think that now Mr Jensen is free to be with ms spy? Or become a spy? Or the competition?
niemandhier
If we were to apply the same standards to Mr. Huang that is applied to current politicians and e.g. Mr. Musk, he probably would not have to leave.
drivebyhooting
If Sam Altman could do it, maybe Jensen Huang can pull it off too.
musha68k
Ram Altman was able to pull this off before, we are rooting for you team Jensen!
alpineman
Money is more important than morals, national security, or good governance for many at Nvidia. That's reassuring.
SturgeonsLaw
I wish the employees well but there's blood in the water and the sharks are circling. NVIDIA is one hell of a whalefall and there's lots of hungry scavengers out there.
The-Ergster
They all had sex with him, didn't they?
meerita
That would be awesome PR move. The valuation of the company would be up again.
MiroslavPokorny
I guess any news is better than losing almost 20% in a month and being hundreds of billions in debt.
csnover
> They worry the company will eventually suffer without its founder at the helm and say that the board must bring him back. “Nvidia is Nvidia because of Jensen,” the employee tells WIRED.Assuming these remarks are representative of employee sentiment more broadly, if you’ve been running a company for decades and yet your employees don’t feel like your beneficent ethos is obviously reflected in every single other person in leadership, that suggests to me a completely different sort of managerial failure.No one should be seen as fungible, and this is not to disparage the clear connections so many people feel with the guy. But if people feel like any group is being held together by a single strongman, that person has failed to do their job of actually infusing the essence of the culture into everyone around them. But I guess that’s what modern corporate leadership tends to looks like: a cult of one personality.
cloudie78
Spare me the moral outrage, suddenly we care who CEOs sleep with?And if the argument is “well he’s the CEO and should be exemplary to everyone else” let’s start holding every famous or otherwise influential person to the same standard then.Otherwise if the argument is “he shagged an employee” and we want to start getting upset over inappropriate work relationships - if that’s the case then Powell also needs to fly.She’s no damsel in distress needing saving from an all powerful CEO.Cui bono?
MiroslavPokorny
Asking for a friend, has Jensen also got an private island ?
northisup
nVidia employees being honey potted by Jensen...
rasz
They should also make a list of employees willing to sleep with CEO, for the good of he company of course. Lets keep it in the family.
anon
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xyst
some corporate drones are absolutely fanatical. or maybe they are just worried about impending drop in value due to stock turbulence.
Markoff
so basically employees signing this petition are OK with infidelity, I probably wouldn't want to be partner of these petitioners
Qem
I think it's odd the amount of flak this guy took for relationships with adult women, while those involved with Epstein remain mosly undisturbed. If the AI bubble bursts soon, I wonder if people will try to blame Huang's extramarital affairs for it, instead of the rampant misallocation of resources.
everfrustrated
If you think this is about an affair, you don't understand what’s actually going on.
y6543987
racists' discussion
ls612
Is this becoming 2026’s OpenAI attempted coup moment? Is a mass talent exodus plausible? If it is I didn’t have that on my bingo card for 2026.
amiga386
"He's a philanderer, but he's OUR philanderer"
nsoonhui
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griffoa
[dead]
aaron695
[dead]
tarkin2
Are they petitioning to bring back the Chinese spy too or is it just Jensen? Whatever international espionage the man wishes to dabble in in his own private time should be his own damn business. Are they willing to take them on as a job lot? Questions need to be answered
ocd
Getting whiplash from which side of the issues people are angry about on the current administration's party on either social or economic/geopolitical impacts, and this other matter with Jensen and his sexual affairs vs. the economic/geopolitical issues of NVIDIA exports since this was with a Chinese spy.Confused on whether people are actually upset about both or even understand the issue, or are just upset about one thing while using the other as ammunition.
toisanji
I 1000% agree that he should come back. Yes he is a terrible jerk for what he did to his family, but he has been an enormous help to ai and the technology is potentially life changing. With him leading we might get closer to AGI. I wrote a blog post about it https://blog.jtoy.net/jensen-huang-should-have-fought-for-ag...
comrade1234
It makes sense. They're probably having to deal with higher level bosses proposing them all the time so it's just the cultural norm at the company.
flowerlad
At the end of the day he hasn't been accused of harassment. The two employees he banged didn't complain that he pressured them into banging him. It is still wrong to bang your employees, and there should be penalties for that. But can't he be punished in a way that doesn't also punish the industry, the economy and US competitiveness?
bottlepalm
F yea! Bring him back. If not, walk out and sink the company.This is looking more like a NYT hit job. Drop unsubstantiated anonymous allegations after the election. The board hires a left wing firm to do 'investigations'. The plan here for the anti-AI left to take control of AI at the source - Nvidia. It's time to fight back.
badgersnake
Was he sleeping with all of them?
themarinho
He's one of the greatest CEO of all time.
ralph84
Jensen should start a new company and hire them. California's ban on non-competes is one of the few good laws it has and made Silicon Valley what it is. Time for another traitorous eight.
codedokode
Ridiculous, why people are standing for a cheater and not for the victim?
charcircuit
Are these Chinese employees? If it's true Huang betrayed America for China it would make sense why they wouldn't be as upset. I doubt the employees have as full of a story like the board does so they may not know the extent of his misdeeds.
crossroadsguy
I am amazed to see how easy it is for some people to forget (or rather not acknowledge) that almost no one gives two flying f’s about what happens to the billionaire spouses, his (pretty sure) millionnaire colleagues he slept with, and that spy (all of them alleged, right?) – or anyone esle he would have sex with. Well, maybe a bit of jealousy (mostly for the billions because that’s what seems to have done the trick). We are in it for the entertainment of it all. But then you’d come across comments trying too hard to sound philosophical and “deep”. I mean ffs, this is one of most basic and banal human urges.
testtestmetest
Theres zero evidence that this lady was a spy, zero evidence for any of the claims.I dont even like Jensen but this is ridiculous. We need more media literacy in this country, we can't just hop on whatever narrative the NYT, WSJ and CNN push onto us.This whole thing is clearly a political hit job on behalf of the AI lab lobby. Wild everyone fell for this garbage.They literally trickled out leaks about random affairs, this was highky coordinated and hard to tell who was exactly responsible. But the journalist at the NYT responsible for these initial leaks has tons of past scoops with sources at the highest levels of Anthropic.Edit: This got downvoted literally instantly. This is a new account and my karma instantly went to zero... Bots much.
tlogan
Now I understand why bad people end up in power.
roosterIllusi0n
This is like the list of 11 dems and jefferies that protected hegseth from impeachment. Putting your name on a list to defend a traitor is not a good idea.Now we know who to investigate more.
comrade1234
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