TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Thursday, November 12th. And another breaking story today. Who saw this one coming? Jensen Wong, the CEO of NVIDIA, has resigned. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I say who saw this coming? A week ago, your answer might have been different than it was over the past 48 hours. It was going this direction.
00:00:27
Speaker 2: That's correct, because the New York Times reported on a second affair that Jensen Wang reportedly was having with a direct report, an executive within NVIDIA. And the Wall Street Journal reported that the board met late last night and apparently that meeting stretched into the early a.m. hours about what to do with their CEO. And now we know the aftermath of all of that.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: This is a stunning, stunning development and a stunning fall, Robes, from one of the most important businessmen in the lives of every person on planet Earth. Robes, this is incredible. It has implications of national security. It has corruption implications. It has business implications. And if you don't think that your finances are going to be impacted by this, and this is foreign to you, Robes, this guy and this story has shaken the stock market. It's not just a matter of Nvidia stock.
00:01:35
Speaker 3: It truly has.
00:01:36
Speaker 2: I mean, and speaking of Nvidia stock, as we're recording this, we'll see what happens in in trading today, but the company stock fell more than 9% after the news of this alleged second affair and this board meeting, and it had already been down nearly 7% since the news of the first affair broke last week with the Chinese spy, Alice Wong, that we heard from Jensen he fully admitted to and apologized for.
00:02:04
Speaker 1: This company lost a trillion dollars in a week.
00:02:06
Speaker 2: Yes, and this is a company whose market value had risen by more than 470% in the past five years.
00:02:13
Speaker 3: We are talking, yes, about trillions of dollars at stake.
00:02:17
Speaker 1: They, at times, they go back and forth with Apple to be the most valuable company on planet Earth. I believe NVIDIA, weren't they the first ones to, they were the ones to hit $ 4 trillion. They were the first company to make these unbelievable markers in the market. Robes, this is also a guy who has been in the ear of the president to the point that many will tell you he did have a hand in getting the president to shape policy when it comes to AI, to loosening restrictions on China and what chips they can have. Robes, this story, this is not like the others, right? We have seen plenty of stories of CEOs behaving badly, having affairs. Maybe they resign, maybe they don't. Robes, that is a PR mess. Robes, this is a.
00:03:06
Speaker 3: An international mess.
00:03:08
Speaker 1: This is something else that has implications far beyond just this man's personal failings.
00:03:13
Speaker 3: Without a doubt.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: And we did get the official announcement from NVIDIA just a short while ago, and we can read some of what their statement was. NVIDIA Board of Directors announces today that Jensen Wang has resigned as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board effective immediately. They have, by the way, named the CFO Colette Kress. She has been named the interim CEO, and they say that she'll continue to serve in her executive vice president role and her chief financial officer role, while they look for a permanent successor. They say they're initiating a search for a permanent CEO and will consider internal and external candidates. Look, they did make a nod to Jensen, In the statement, they said Jensen's contributions to NVIDIA are profound. Yeah.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: It's his company. That's an understatement.
00:04:09
Speaker 3: He founded it 33 years ago.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: In fact, Colette actually, the new, the interim CEO, even said NVIDIA's strength has always come from its people. And together with our leadership team, I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: Well, their heads are down today. I mean, this is a guy who made a bunch of people millionaires. This is a guy, Robes, that no matter what, you admire for what he put together. Robes, this is a dude. He was a kid in college who had ideas and built this company from, what was it? They used to do video game processors and chips into this? Robes, AI is nothing without this guy.
00:04:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, it gives you chills to think about.
00:05:00
Speaker 2: And also just to think about the legacy he built, yes, in AI, and for all of us who are now participants in this technology, but he built it with his family. I think there is a personal tragedy in all of this as well. His wife of more than 40 years, his children, who also was a wunderkind and a brilliant woman who he actually met in college, in a study group and they built this together in a lot of ways. And his children are executives within this company as well. So yes, there is an international, impact on just about every business. There's an impact on national security, as we pointed out, with this potential involvement with the Chinese spy. And you've got just, I guess, a family tragedy also unfolding all at the same time.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: They're going through it right now, man. You do. Your heart breaks. There are victims here. Yes. And those are his family members. This is awful. And Robes, your heart, again, people want to be hard on him. He made these choices. And yes, I'm understood. There's nothing else to be talked about there. We're here because of his choices. Fine. But Robes, there is a tragedy and a man who was able to build this thing. He is no longer running his own company that he built into an international powerhouse. He made this the most powerful, the most profitable, the most valuable company in the world. And today, in a matter of days, a few New York Times
Load full transcript
articles and a few revelations, Robes in a matter of days. He's 63. He's been building it for 30 years. In days, it's gone. Choices. Yes, people make bad choices all the time. And I don't know, a lot of people might be looking at this. He got exactly what he deserved. His wife didn't. I don't wish this for his kids.
00:07:05
Speaker 2: God, no.
00:07:06
Speaker 1: At all.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: But you know what's so wild to think?
00:07:09
Speaker 2: That when the news of the affair with the Chinese spy Alice Wong came out, that was not his undoing. That's the interesting part. Yes, there are concerns about national security. And yes, there are three House committees who have asked Jensen to appear for closed-door briefings. on his relationship with that aforementioned Chinese spy.
00:07:32
Speaker 3: And he apologized for the affair.
00:07:34
Speaker 2: It's remarkably, it's this second affair that now the New York Times reported on with 48-year-old Kimberly Powell. She was NVIDIA's, I say was, I guess technically still is. I imagine that's not going to last. But NVIDIA's vice president of health care.
00:07:51
Speaker 3: And it's that.
00:07:52
Speaker 2: Extramarital affair that apparently was the tipping point. And look, five people who worked for the company, the New York Times sourced, they said there's reportedly video of them being affectionate at a San Jose hotel during an NVIDIA conference that happened back in the spring in March. And apparently there was security who saw someone taking a video of them, had them sign an NDA.
00:08:15
Speaker 3: So this has been known.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: They said this was a a terribly kept secret within the NVIDIA company.
00:08:22
Speaker 3: Basically, everyone kind of knew this was going on.
00:08:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I, Robes, I wonder, yes, this might have been the last straw kind of a thing, even if he was holding on. But, Robes, the revelation that he is compromised, the guy who can get Trump on the phone is compromised because he wasn't smart enough to notice what was happening around him. He wasn't smart enough to know that maybe something was up. Well, they got the honeypot, right? Oldest trick in the book. People keep falling for it. Really? Wow. Why does this hot, younger woman all of a sudden think I'm the sexiest thing in here? I'm not saying that's how it went down, but it might have been.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: Well, I've seen plenty of headlines that have said basically that exact same thing and used the Honeypot scenario, absolutely.
00:09:11
Speaker 1: How then can you have this guy continue?
00:09:13
Speaker 3: Correct.
00:09:14
Speaker 1: He is a national security liability, baby.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Right, because once you put yourself in a compromised position where someone can blackmail you, someone can threaten you, someone can, yes, hang this over your head saying your family will be destroyed, your business will be destroyed if you don't do X, Y, and Z.
00:09:33
Speaker 1: At the White House, of course. What if somebody made that demand? This is the Chinese government, and they've denied having anything to do with this woman, we should say.
00:09:41
Speaker 3: Shocking. But reportedly she's in Beijing right now.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: She keeps a winter home there.
00:09:46
Speaker 3: Yes, apparently. We shall see.
00:09:48
Speaker 2: But no, and when you think about it from that perspective, when you have that much power and something that could actually.
00:09:58
Speaker 3: Shift geopolitics dynamics.
00:10:03
Speaker 1: This is crazy. Yes.
00:10:04
Speaker 2: You cannot put yourself in a position where you could be blackmailed, where you could be compromised.
00:10:10
Speaker 3: And he absolutely did.
00:10:12
Speaker 1: Think about the, the white house is going to have to deal with this. And the president said, What did he say? He only found out about it recently, even though now the wide reporting is that he knew about this in May, before he even took Jensen Wong on the trip to China with him. Robes, the guy who has the ear of the president, a Chinese agent had his ear. That's too damn close.
00:10:38
Speaker 3: She shared his bed.
00:10:39
Speaker 1: Robes, that's scary as hell.
00:10:40
Speaker 2: I was even thinking, like, imagine, yes, now that we know who she is. is or who she was in that moment, I was even thinking, you're sleeping in bed with someone. That's like the ultimate vulnerable situation.
00:10:53
Speaker 3: You're asleep.
00:10:54
Speaker 2: Someone could slip something in your drink. Someone could go through your phone while you're sleeping. There are so many things that could be happening when you bring someone into bed with you.
00:11:04
Speaker 1: Bro, she had, she was, a Chinese agent was that close to the president. Okay, we got to figure this out. Bro, that is terrifying. And yes, this is supposed to be all over the race to get chips, right? Who's going to be next in AI? Who is going to continue to advance? We were ahead in that race. Robes, there are serious questions now about what happens to NVIDIA if they cannot, if their internal turmoil causes their business to slide in some way and stop continuing to fund, to fuel these AI developers. They need this guy. They need this company, I should say. What was the estimate? 90% of the AI chips and processors on the market were from NVIDIA. The stock market, they are responsible for 90% of the trading in these robes. The story is insane.
00:12:02
Speaker 2: It's really kind of hard to get your head around the level of influence and impact Jensen Wong has had on this industry and the idea of where it's headed next.
00:12:17
Speaker 3: What happens to him next?
00:12:20
Speaker 2: I mean, this is, because obviously this is, there is, there's no one else like him in the world. No.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: By most accounts.
00:12:28
Speaker 1: No, by all accounts. We don't have, yeah, it's Sam Altman, the OpenAI guy, who's still in this, with Elon, who's the
other big.
00:12:39
Speaker 3: But OpenAI uses NVIDIA's chips.
00:12:42
Speaker 1: Yes, right. So, yes. Those guys- They're all connected. Can't do it. He's not their competition. He is their- Correct. Supplier.
00:12:50
Speaker 3: Correct.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: That allows them to do their work.
00:12:52
Speaker 2: So, look, obviously this news is all just breaking, but when we come back, we will let you know Jensen Wong already has another job offer. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. We are following the breaking news that just came in. CEO, and I guess we should say former NVIDIA CEO, Jensen Wong has... submitted his resignation. The board met late last night, kept talking into the wee hours of the morning, apparently. And look, everyone was expecting an outcome similar to this. Either they were going to fire him, push him out. He was going to resign. There were very few people after news of a second affair came to light. Very few people believed that Jensen Wong would be able to keep his job as CEO. Now, Upon that news and people speculating, Elon Musk spoke out. And he said it would be an honor to hire Jensen Wong. And he would love to bring him on to SpaceX. So look, obviously this man is brilliant. Obviously this man has a mind like no other. And it'll just be interesting to see what happens with him. nvidia is already got their plan in place they're trying to move on without their founder and their wunderkind but it wouldn't seem like this would be the end of the road from a professional standpoint from the man who is i don't even know what his comparative would be would it.
00:14:36
Speaker 3: Be a steve jobs but maybe even beyond that um.
00:14:42
Speaker 1: Yes, these are brilliant innovators. Right, Steve Jobs. All of us have a phone in our pocket based on this guy. However, we can go buy another phone. There is another option. These guys just don't have another option to get this stuff from anybody else who is ahead of the game. Now, this guy, Jensen, he can found his own company today if he wants to. Start something else up. Start doing a new thing. Or Robes, he has got people coming after him left and right right now.
00:15:16
Speaker 3: Yes, he does.
00:15:16
Speaker 1: This guy, he's available right now?
00:15:20
Speaker 2: And look, even when folks were all predicting his demise at the company he founded, NVIDIA, there were still wide reports that he was deeply respected in Silicon Valley. People know what he's capable of. He would be an asset. And look, this has been a meteoric fall from the top.
00:15:42
Speaker 3: But this was... What, human error?
00:15:46
Speaker 2: This was a terrible misjudgment that men since the beginning of time had made, and women too, I shouldn't just say men.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: Personal failings and weakness. Yes, absolutely.
00:15:55
Speaker 3: He's a human being. He's a brilliant, innovative human being.
00:15:58
Speaker 2: But yes, he too fell prey to probably the power that he wielded as CEO
of NVIDIA.
00:16:06
Speaker 1: And I'm looking up at the TV here, as you were talking, every single one of these shots they were putting up on TV had... him standing next to Elon Musk. These guys are in this very exclusive club. I don't know if they're going to kick him out of it. For what? Personal failings? Elon is not, what was he going to say?
00:16:25
Speaker 2: Yes, Elon is the last person who's going to be judging him from his glass house.
00:16:31
Speaker 1: And who hasn't judged him either? President Trump.
00:16:34
Speaker 3: That's very true. That's very true.
00:16:36
Speaker 1: He still had kind words when all this stuff was coming out. He's a nice guy. He said, He even used some strange languages. He probably has an excuse for that in one of his press gaggles. He's close to this guy. Now the president has to answer some questions. What did you know and when? How much influence did this guy have? Did you make decisions based on things he was saying in your ear? Who was putting them in his ear? Did you really make moves, Mr. President? Robes, that's a real question. Did you make moves based... on information that came directly from the Chinese government, telling a spy to tell this guy to tell you, Mr. President. He ain't gonna like that.
00:17:21
Speaker 3: No, and the president is headed to China next week.
00:17:24
Speaker 1: Good times.
00:17:25
Speaker 2: Without, I believe they announced that earlier in the week, that Jensen Wang would no longer exist.
00:17:30
Speaker 3: Be traveling with the president to China. It's a good move, probably.
00:17:34
Speaker 2: But yes, I mean, all of this is going to be in focus from just about every reporter with the president headed to China next week with all of this fallout. And yes, the questions about how much the president knew and what information did he have.
00:17:51
Speaker 3: And what did he do with that information?
00:17:52
Speaker 1: And why wouldn't you? Somebody you're that close to, you're told, possibly has a Chinese spy in his bed and you Do nothing. Because it's for the argument. It's better for business to keep this guy close to you, active, working. We don't need a scandal surrounding him. It's just an enormous story. And it keeps getting bigger. Who knows, Robes? Will it? You know what? Now it's maybe not as much the NVIDIA story. It's going to be a very big White House story.
00:18:22
Speaker 2: Exactly, because you already, I mean, look, I mentioned earlier, three House committees have already requested that Jensen Wong come and testify. Closed door, because yes, there are national security issues at play. Obviously, you don't want it being publicized. There can't be a tremendous amount of transparency about what may happen in those meetings.
00:18:43
Speaker 3: But now it's elevated to a whole new level.
00:18:47
Speaker 1: And yes, the markets are, as of this recording, they are down, not tanking in the early opening, but they are, for the most part, all down, but holding pretty steady right now after this news. And maybe this was the news they needed to get out before. Nvidia stock, of course, is down, but maybe it's resolved, if you will. The uncertainty is in there, so maybe that's helpful.
00:19:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder if SpaceX stock is going up just because Elon Musk has made the offer, or at least has said publicly that he would love to bring Jensen on.
00:19:19
Speaker 3: Board to SpaceX.
00:19:20
Speaker 2: You know how those sorts of things tend to swing or sway stock prices.
00:19:25
Speaker 3: So, of course, we'll continue to monitor.
00:19:28
Speaker 2: What's happening, but just wanted to get that breaking news to you now that yes, Jensen Wong, no longer CEO of NVIDIA. And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:19:40
Speaker 3: We'll talk to you soon.