President Donald Trump personally begged his billionaire buddy not to throw in the towel after his multiple alleged extramarital affairs were exposed to the world.
Trump, 80, called ex-Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Tuesday to urge him not to step down, two people familiar with the conversation told The New York Times.
Huang, 63, ultimately announced his resignation as president and CEO of the world’s second-most valuable company on Thursday, after reports that he had engaged in multiple affairs, including with two subordinates at Nvidia.
Huang has led the chip titan for three decades.
On Sunday, the world’s eighth-richest man admitted to an adulterous relationship with Alice Huang, a business executive at the Singapore-based AI infrastructure firm Megaspeed.
U.S. intelligence determined that Huang, a Chinese citizen unrelated to the tech billionaire, is a suspected spy for Beijing.
Huang pictured with Alice, an alleged Chinese spy.
Aides told the Times that Trump was less concerned with the national security implications of Huang’s scandal and saw it more as a matter of adultery, which he disregarded as being inconsequential to the country’s defense.
Trump was more concerned about the market impact of Huang stepping down, aides told the newspaper, viewing the Nvidia co-founder’s success as being intertwined with the U.S. economy and stock market. The president allegedly asked aides what would happen to the markets if Huang stepped down, fearing an abrupt decline.
Trump confirmed he had spoken with Huang on a phone call during an interview with sports commentator Stephen A. Smith on Wednesday.
“He’s a tremendous talent,” he said of Huang, praising the engineer’s development of AI chips that “can’t be copied because of their level of genius.”
However, he seemed loath to say Huang should step down.
“Well, the big thing is, was the woman a spy, and—I don’t know if that’s been determined yet—but if the woman was a spy, yes. If the woman was not a spy, perhaps it would be different,” he told Smith. “But I can tell you this: somehow, he’ll end up on his feet.”
He continued, “I spoke to him yesterday, he’s gone through hell. What he feels most badly about is his wife and family. That’s what he is really, uh—that’s what he told me.”
Trump had a 48-minute interview with the ESPN commentator on Wednesday, which was published on YouTube Thursday evening.
Screenshot/Stephen A. Smith/YouTube
Trump told Smith that Huang called him and reflected on how his affairs affected his wife and family, before the commentator asked whether someone could replace Huang at Nvidia.
The president brought up former Apple CEO Tim Cook as a potential successor, noting how he had made the tech giant into “one of the great companies of the world.”
Huang and his wife have been married for over 40 years.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Nvidia and the White House for comment.
Huang, whose net worth exceeds $160 billion, married Lori Mills in 1985, when he was 22. The couple has two kids, both of whom work at Nvidia: Spencer, 35, and Madison, 34.
The Huangs, from left: Madison, Lori, Jensen, Spencer.
MediaNews Group/The Mercury News/MediaNews Group via Getty Images
Aside from his tryst with the alleged Chinese spy, the Times reported on Wednesday that Huang also shared an “affectionate” relationship with his company’s vice president of healthcare, Kimberly Powell.
Huang was allegedly caught on camera being “affectionate” with Powell at a San Jose, California, hotel.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Huang had yet another alleged salacious relationship with an Nvidia subordinate, whom the outlet did not name.
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