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| Jensen Huang on 9 November 2023. File photograph. Office of the President, Taiwan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Cropped photograph. |
Elon Musk has supported a campaign to restore Jensen Huang as Nvidia’s chief executive, joining calls for the company’s board to explain its handling of the co-founder’s departure.
The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive announced his position in a post on X on 13 November: “A petition is underway to reinstate Jensen and I’m signing it too.”
Nvidia announced Huang’s departure on 12 November and appointed chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim chief executive. Its regulatory filing records that the board accepted his resignation as president, chief executive and director on 11 November, with immediate effect.
Kress will retain responsibility for the company’s finances while the board searches for a permanent successor among internal and external candidates. Nvidia also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first board chairman.
A company spokesperson subsequently told NBC News that Huang would have no continuing role at Nvidia, according to the broadcaster’s report carried by Yahoo Finance.
The petition, published on the Stand with Jensen website, challenges the process surrounding that departure. Its headline reads “Thirty-three years deserve an answer”.
The organisers ask the board to reinstate Huang while an independent investigation establishes the facts. They also want directors to disclose the inquiry’s scope, independence and expected timetable, and allow him to respond before they reach a final decision.
Their third demand seeks a prompt public explanation of the board’s concerns, the supporting evidence and its consideration of employees’ and shareholders’ interests.
The letter acknowledges that Huang’s 33 years of leadership do not exempt him from accountability, but states that “Jensen deserves due process, not mob justice.” Its authors also acknowledge that they have no access to the board’s private deliberations.
The website displays a shareholder entry under Musk’s name, dated 13 November, identifying him as chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla.
Other names displayed include Gavin Baker, managing partner of Atreides Management; Replit chief executive Amjad Masad; and Epic Games chief executive Tim Sweeney.
An entry bearing the name of Erwin Coumans, identified on the site as a senior distinguished engineer at Nvidia, describes Huang as “an essential part of NVIDIA.”
The website groups supporters into shareholders, current employees, former employees and other supporters. However, its privacy notice states that names, affiliations and titles are self-reported and unverified. It describes the campaign as an independent volunteer initiative without endorsement from Nvidia or Huang.
On 14 November, the organisers said they were removing false entries and taking steps to prevent abuse of the petition. They also warned about accounts impersonating the campaign.
Before Huang’s departure, Nvidia’s board had announced an independent investigation on 8 November following reports that he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. At that stage, directors said they had no reason to believe national security or company secrets had been compromised.
Separately, a Polymarket contract on Huang rejoining Nvidia by 31 December 2027 traded at about 30 per cent on 14 November. The figure reflects traders’ bets on a return to the company and changes as trading continues.