Nvidia’s stock tumbled in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the New York Times reported that CEO Jensen Huang also had a relationship with a senior executive who reports to him, adding a fresh governance question to a scandal that was already weighing on the world’s most valuable chipmaker.
Shares of Nvidia closed the regular session at $173.73, up 2.92%, or $4.93, on the day. After the bell, as the report circulated, the stock slid to around $160.45, a drop of $13.28, or 7.64%. At one point in the extended session it touched about $159.02, which is a fall of roughly 8.5% from the close.
What Triggered The Drop
The slide followed the Times’ report, published on Wednesday afternoon, that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare. The paper cited five people who worked at the company and said the pair were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose hotel during Nvidia’s GTC conference in March. The Times said it has not seen the video. The claims have not been confirmed by Nvidia, Huang or Powell, and Nvidia declined to provide a statement. Powell joined Nvidia in 2008 and has led its healthcare business since 2017.
The report likely matters to investors because it raises a different kind of question from the earlier allegations. The earlier story centred on national security. This one is about corporate governance: whether the chief executive had a relationship with a direct report, and whether Nvidia’s code of conduct, which tells employees to avoid conflicts including those arising from personal relationships, was followed.
After-hours trading happens on thinner volume than the regular session, so prices can swing more sharply and may not hold when the market reopens. The stock’s reaction on Thursday’s open will be a better gauge of how investors are weighing the news.
A Stock Already Under Pressure
The after-hours decline extends a rough stretch for the stock. Nvidia closed Friday at $186.64. Tuesday’s close, at $168.80, was already nearly 10% below that level, and the after-hours price of roughly $160.45 puts the stock about 14% below Friday’s close.
The selling began as the Times first reported on October 29 that U.S. officials believe Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive with no relation to Jensen, was a Chinese intelligence asset who had cultivated a close relationship with him. Huang then admitted in a memo to employees on November 8 that he had been unfaithful to his wife, and Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation. The stock fell by more than 4% in Monday’s session, the first after the investigation was announced.
The board has said it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised, and that it retains confidence in Huang’s leadership. The allegations against Alice Huang remain unproven, and China has denied them.
Mounting Fallout
Huang has also pulled out of public appearances, including the ElevenLabs Summit in New York. Elon Musk has backed Huang as irreplaceable for American AI leadership, and President Donald Trump has said Huang told him he had no idea that Alice Huang was a spy. Three House Republican committee chairs have asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing by November 18.
Some of the concerns had been flagged earlier. Short seller Culper Research highlighted Huang’s closeness to Alice Huang in a May report, six months before the affair came to light, though that report did not allege an affair or espionage.
What happens next depends on how the board’s investigation, led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, handles the new allegation, and on whether it extends to Huang’s relationship with a direct report.
Stock prices are as of the after-hours session on November 11 and may have changed. This article is based on reporting by The New York Times. The claims about a relationship have not been independently verified, and Nvidia, Jensen Huang and Kimberly Powell have not publicly confirmed them. This is not investment advice.