President Donald Trump on Thursday encouraged Nvidia to hire former Apple CEO Tim Cook to replace Jensen Huang after Huang resigned amid reports of extramarital affairs, including one involving a woman believed to be a Chinese spy.
Trump took to Truth Social to endorse Cook.
“NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place — TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend!” Trump wrote.
Cook served as Apple’s CEO for 15 years, from 2011 until September of this year. He currently serves as the executive chairman of Apple’s Board of Directors.
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been named the chip manufacturer’s interim CEO following Huang’s resignation.
As Breitbart News reported, Huang’s resignation comes amid media reports regarding extramarital relationships:
On Sunday, Huang admitted to having an affair. The media reported he was romantically involved with Alice Huang, an executive at the cloud company Megaspeed, who U.S. intelligence officials reportedly believe is a spy for China. Then, on Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Huang had a separate extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who reports directly to him.
CNBC confirmed that the Nvidia board met Wednesday to discuss whether to remove Huang as CEO. U.S. lawmakers have also called for his resignation. Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has led the company since.
Stacy Rasgon, a senior analyst at Bernstein, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday that the relationship with a direct report changes the calculus for the board, saying it is “much tougher for the board to leave him in position.” Bernstein cut its Nvidia price target from $400 to $200 that same day.
On Thursday afternoon, Nvidia stock was down about 9.8 points, or 5.69 percent.
