Nvidia shares fall about 3% as probe examines CEO Jensen Huang
An internal investigation into whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort followed a report on his relationship with a Chinese businesswoman.
Nvidia shares fell about 3% in out-of-hours trading on Monday after the chipmaker opened an internal investigation into whether chief executive Jensen Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort, putting his position at the world's most valuable company under scrutiny.
The probe was announced on Sunday, Channel NewsAsia reported. It followed a media report that Huang had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who allegedly passed information to Beijing. Huang told Nvidia employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife and did not disclose details of the relationship, according to the broadcaster.
Huang is the public face of Nvidia, the world's most valuable chipmaker. Channel NewsAsia described him as the most prolific salesman of the AI boom, and reported that the investigation had put a spotlight on his future at the company he leads.
Perpetual futures on the Hyperliquid exchange and after-hours trading on the Blue Ocean system, two venues that quote Nvidia outside Nasdaq hours, put the shares near $180.30, down about 3.4% from Friday's Nasdaq close of $186.64, Channel NewsAsia reported. Reuters put the fall at about 3%.
Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne, said the share move reflected doubt hanging over the company. "The market's probably telling you now this does no favours to the stock whatsoever in a time when there's a lot of conjecture as to the build out of data centres," he said, according to Channel NewsAsia. Weston said he did not expect Huang to be replaced. If investors genuinely believed he would step down, he said, "it would be an absolute bloodbath".
The fallout reached South Korea, where Madison Huang, Huang's daughter and an Nvidia executive, cancelled a planned visit to Seoul for an Nvidia conference due to begin on Monday, according to the companies she had been scheduled to meet.
How the reports differ
Reuters led with the market move, reporting a fall of about 3% in after-hours and perpetual futures trading and giving no cause in its headline. Channel NewsAsia led with the internal investigation itself, reported the drop at about 3.4% to $180.30 a share, and alone named the Hyperliquid and Blue Ocean venues, the analyst Chris Weston and the cancelled Seoul visit by Madison Huang. Global Banking & Finance Review carried only the 3% figure.
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