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Not the _only_ reason, sure. However, it's quite common when executives have an affair they will get fired. I think that's just the reality. If you publicly humiliate your family and the business, you're out...
I was on the leadership team of a startup that is now public, during that build something like that happened (almost exactly the same as this NVIDIA situation sans the spy stuff), there were effectively 5 of us involved in what the outcome should be and it basically came down to: me and another guy didn't want to sit on a leadership team with someone who exercised judgement that way, to the point that it was me and the other guy or affair person, so affair person was out, even tho it was very painful for the business. Also, I don't think what I just described is particularly uncommon.
I have worked at a larger company where the CEO did something similar and across the company all anyone could ask was "why would you do something that dumb", which is not a great way for people to feel about the person supposedly leading the company.
Well, I'm not pro-affair, but I've seen lots of people say "why would you do something that dumb" about lots of executives, doing regular things like changing marketing plans, changing the color of the logo, choosing clearly inferior technology because of the caste of the chief architect, etc.

Dumb is apparently totally normal at that level.

Starting a c-level polycule to derisk the s1
Yeah it's insane how many people are like "bro affairs are totally normal!" (they're not) or "affairs have nothing to do with the business!" (of course they do)

Look at the NVDA stock chart. There you go! That's why affairs are relevant to business! Business is always about trust, and someone who isn't deserving of their own spouse's trust certainly isn't deserving of anyone else's.

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this is something i am probably too european to understand...
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One of the reasons this behavior is problematic in general is the potential for blackmail. It's not even really a statement about morality, just an acknowledgement that somebody who wants to keep things hidden is going to be beholden to the people who know the secrets.

"It's not the crime, it's the coverup."

Jensen went to many high profile parties with this woman. I don't see where he's trying to even hide it. Even the kiss was made out in public, not like a hotel room.

Also, an affair is only blackmail material in a society of prudes. I recall the story about a president who was confronted with condemning photos of his activities by CIA agents, and he pretty much encouraged the agents to publish the photos.

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It seems more common they get fired for either "with a subordinate" or "a relationship with a conflict of interest for the company".

There are many examples where the outed affair resulted in nothing material when neither of the above was true.

This case, seems to touch both.

Reminds me of the Coldplay concert couple, which happened to be a CEO and head of HR. Head of HR! And what's more interesting is that they only got removed when the affair became public. At the same time the company was small potatoes so presumably less interesting to state actors.
It’s not just about humiliation. If your boss is sleeping with your coworker or someone on your team, how can you trust their decisions are grounded in fairness and logic. Sure, the world doesn’t work this way, and ceos are at a different realm than a mid level manager, but this is usually how HR defines things.
Yeah there’s a reason it’s strictly against companies policies and it’s not a moral reason.
You don't have any say in that anyway. People hire and promote their spouses, relatives and friends all the time.
That is assuming there is a layer above the executive, which is not necessarily the case.

It is true for anything with a board, of course. But there is no rule mandating boards.

Pretty sure all publicly traded companies in the US are required to have a board
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Public companies in the US are required to have a board of directors. If they’re not a “controlled company” - i.e. no single person controls more than 50% - then a majority of the board are required to be independent, i.e. not employees, executives, or consultants to the company.
If you publicly humiliate your family and the business, you're out...

It's not entirely about humiliation.

Having an affair (or multiple, in this case) demonstrates poor decision making. You don't want someone who can't make wise choices running your company.

> If you publicly humiliate your family and the business

I can hardly imagine anything more stupid than judging the aptitude of the CEO of a 5T$ business based on his private love life.

I suspect so many of us see examples of corporate crime or even of corporate greed (legally) causing an incredible amount of damage that an affair feels trivial in comparison. That is especially true when the private family life of a CEO is private. The damage of the affair could be anything from devastating to the family to they were all but legally separated.
Two wrongs don't make a right.

You should be concerned about corporate crime.

That doesn't change that there is a conflict of interest here and any company should fire someone who has a conflict of interest that they are not carefully managing to ensure they don't become real.

This is not about his private love life. This is about a conflict of interest that happens to also involve his private love life.
Which is as it should be. First of all, marriage is a covenant. If someone cannot be trusted to keep his word on that, it's tough to trust him with power over thousands of employees and trillions of dollars. Second, I'm guessing the board asked Huang after the first affair's revelation whether there were more skeletons in his closet, and he said no. Lying to one's board is more than enough reason to be ousted.
> marriage is a covenant

That's a very narrow view that's a function of one's religion, culture, and values.

When I was in school, (US) my very Catholic French teacher explained that his uncle, in France, had a mistress. His uncle's wife knew and was okay with it. What my teacher was explaining is that the culture around marriage varies considerably through the world, and you can't take for granted that what we were taught (monogamy) is the standard that others live to, or even expect from you.

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From a religious perspective, sure. From an earthly perspective, you don't know what the other side was doing. Have you ever been married to a menopausal or a post menopausal woman? A marriage in which there is a permanent refusal to have sex can be annulled.
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Seems like some weird fundamentalist take. On its own it's purely a private matter between him and his wife (obviously the GPU smuggling stuff is a separate thing). Given that the affair has been semi public for years it's hard to imagine his wife didn't know about it anyway.
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no one cares who you put your dick into if the returns are good and there are no threats to the business. but he only fucked threats to the business.

he was fucking a spy

he was fucking one of his direct reports

what are two things you shouldn't ever do as a CEO of the biggest company in the world?

this wasn't Cindy the random waitress from the Palo Alto Ruth Chris', these were literally two people he should never be fucking

he put the company at risk of national security issues and HR lawsuits for what is otherwise painfully mid-tier pussy. he's gotta go.

> for what is otherwise painfully mid-tier pussy.

This is an extremely unnecessary misogynistic comment.

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was it confirmed she was a spy? or is that just twitter rumors?
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This is the kind of story that makes me think most critical leadership should be held by women. Grossly generalizing here, but I think women are inherently less corruptible than men in this manner, especially older women.

It’s unambiguously a good thing that the next NVIDIA CEO (even if just an interim CEO) is a woman, and that the AMD CEO is a woman.

Exactly. Jensen could have had ten high-priced escorts attending to him at home at every hour and there would be no issue.
I dunno that executive looks rather top tier to me. Maybe you have different standards for late-40s extremely accomplished women.
Famously, Mark Hurd made dubious expenses that were perceived negatively by the public (there were sexual harassment allegations) and was ousted as CEO from HP. Then Larry Ellison mocked HP and hired Mark as Oracle's President. So, some companies are worried about that, others aren't
It's entirely possible that the board just wasn't that warm on Jensen in the first place. Not cold, not looking to be the tall poppy that gets cut down... but at least willing to give Jensen the boot if given the right push.

This is how things change. Slowly and then all at once. If the board were more in love with him, they'd probably have been willing to turn a blind eye for just a little while longer. No such luck for Jensen, but we make our own luck in these things.

Not looking warm on a guy that synthesized five trillion dollars from nothing in the 90s is some high standards.
Not sure how personal affairs humiliate your business
They do when they're with a subordinate or a vendor, both of which he did. Add on "foreign agent" and you're done.
They can when they reveal poor decision making. If this guy is so stupid that he's willing to stick his dick in anyone, including a Chinese spy, what does that say about his ability to make rational decisions elsewhere in his life? He's clearly not making decisions that benefit him personally in the long term so can he even make good long term decisions at his job?

There's a reason why government background checks looks at financial records. Someone that has trouble paying their bills due to a gambling habit might be easy to turn by the enemy with some cash. Or someone that regularly cheats on their wife might be willing to do some favors for a pretty girl if she lets him sleep with her.

They do in our puritanical culture.

In a Goffman Front Stage/Back Stage sense, you are supposed to keep the front stage presentation on the level of a pious monk or nun.

The irony to me is this just another asymmetrical advantage for Chinese culture.

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Getting obviously played so hard that it makes you, your wife, your children, your company and your entire country look like idiots surely should humiliate your business no?
"Oh hey, I'm going to be buying 1,000,0000,000 widgets from that widget maker Nvidia"

"Haha you mean the Chinese spy guy? Hey ask if you can get a discount if your secretary sleeps with their CEO haha"

Good executives go to Epstein island and do not get fired.
I wonder where they are going now.
We know nothing about Jensen's private life or if he humiliated his family here.

Marriages of 41+ years can get into any kind of dynamic.

100%. While I do not condone his actions, publicly we do not know anything about his private life and the dynamics. Until there's a statement from his family, for all we know they may have been separated.

It's clearly the CN link and/or the cosying up with a customer that is the problem; the board would not care about his private life (and neither should the public, tbh).

And the open letter sounds more like it was written the way the public would expect a CEO to write.

If he was in an open relationship or had a girlfriend while separated from his wife, that's not really something to be embarrassed about. His letter talks is him apologizing to his family and asking for forgiveness. He got caught in a Chinese intelligence honeypot and knows he fucked up.
Then obviously his letter could've said as much. It didn't, ergo an interpretation of available evidence clearly indicates you are wrong.
> or if he humiliated his family here.

His open letter about his infidelity seems to imply he has embarrassed his wife and family, have you read it?

> His open letter about his infidelity seems to imply he has embarrassed his wife and family, have you read it?

He has also said so very many times in so very many ways that Nvidia was absolutely not involved in violation of export control laws regarding the export of its products to China. That -in fact- there was absolutely no smuggling going on and claims to the contrary were utterly baseless and without merit.

I agree with ohnnyApplePRNG's assertion that we know literally nothing about the private life and situation of Mr. Huang and his family.

So because he lied when he denied certain allegations, you don't believe his admissions of guilt? That seems like an odd logical jump.

> we know literally nothing

He "literally" wrote about how his actions hurt his family, I'm not sure why there's a second account parroting the exact same phrase.

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This is incorrect. Even if they had a totally open relationship, it being public news across the world can be humiliating.
We do actually know enough to know that the edge cases do not sufficiently apply here to arrive at the conclusion you're implying.
> We know literally nothing about Jensen's private life or if he humiliated his family here.

Uh... but we do!

---

I owe my family and all of you an apology.

I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.

Throughout my life, my family has given me love and support. They deserve my honesty and loyalty. Instead, I let them down and damaged the life we built together. I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I caused, and I accept the criticism that comes with it.

To my wife and family: I love you. I know an apology cannot undo what I have done. I hope our family will heal and that, over time, I can earn back your trust.

To my colleagues at NVIDIA, including those I have worked alongside for decades, and to our board, partners, and shareholders around the world: you deserve better from me. Leading NVIDIA is the privilege of my life. My responsibility is to serve you and be worthy of your trust. I have fallen short of that responsibility. I am fully committed to NVIDIA and will work to earn back your confidence.

Regarding the national security concerns raised in news reports, NVIDIA’s Board of Directors has initiated an independent investigation. I support the investigation and will cooperate fully. I love our country and our company. I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America’s national security. I am proud and grateful to be an American.

My family bears no responsibility for my choices. I do. Please give them privacy.

Jensen

---

Source: https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/a-message-to-our-company

If he is actually a bi-furry with an understanding with his wife on 'affairs', do you think he'd say that? Or would he maintain the straight, family-friendly, investor-friendly front expected of him [by some people] in his position?

Don't get me wrong, I'm very much a promoter of monogamy.

I think it is naive to assume that such public statements are the whole truth of a matter.

People who fuck up a company (or have an affair, or get caught snorting drugs off a sex-worker) aren't really 'stepping back to spend more time with their families'. Historically the classic example of executive public statements.

> If he is actually a bi-furry with an understanding with his wife on 'affairs', do you think he'd say that?

Yes, and it would have helped. CEOs have "exciting" relationships all the time, and folks seem entirely willing to accept this.

These are entirely different stories:

"My wife and I have a non-traditional relationship and would prefer to keep the specifics private, but no harm was caused by my actions."

"I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."

I think the thriving bi-furry community on HN might have a word or two to say about that
People don’t realise that execs don’t actually write these messages usually.
Perhaps, but it's also more common than not for affairs to hurt families, and the statement confirms that applied here.

If you have stronger evidence that the statement was untruthful when it said he hurt his family, you may present it.

Until such time, the statement strengthens the bayesian prior, which is that his affairs hurt his family, and thus that is what we can conclude. We need not be 100% confident to conclude this absent further evidence. >50% confidence suffices.

We don't know, but it is overwhelmingly likely that he and his wife do not have an open marriage. Most people do not.
Tell me you have no clue how corporations are run without telling me. Furthermore Jensen wasn't some random executive otherwise this wouldn't be now top news all over the world.
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Yeah but he's somewhat open about it and isn't really cheating on anyone. It's weird behavior but it's not being a sperm donor is going to ruin his personal life, like one would by cheating on their wife.
He isn't married?
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