On Thursday, Nvidia announced CEO Jensen Huang’s resignation, effective immediately, following his admission to having an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy. The New York Times has also reported that he had an affair with another Nvidia executive, Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care. Neither Nvidia nor Powell has publicly addressed that report.
CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO, and one of her first moves was addressing employees. But the company won’t hold an all-hands meeting until Nov. 18, six days after Thursday’s announcement, and several communications experts told Fortune that’s too long to leave a shaken workforce waiting.
Kress has been with Nvidia since 2013, having previously held senior finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft. She ranked No. 49 on the 2026 Fortune Most Powerful Women list.
She takes over a company whose market value topped $5 trillion at its peak. Nvidia, No. 16 on the 2026 Fortune 500, was the first company on the list to pass $4 trillion. It has since dropped below that mark after news of Huang’s affairs and his resignation.
Nvidia could also be drawn into multiple Justice Department investigations, including an antitrust probe aimed at the chipmaker itself and two separate inquiries into Megaspeed and Supermicro that center on Alice Huang, the alleged Chinese spy, Semafor reported, citing two administration officials. Semafor reported no sign the DOJ currently intends to pursue criminal charges against Nvidia or Huang. Fortune has reported on why Nvidia can’t shake China smuggling allegations.
Some employees have voiced their shock publicly. “Jensen Huang rescued me from probably living in debt the rest of my life … I’ve never spoken to him, and only passed by him in HQ once,” one X user who identifies themself as an Nvidia employee wrote in a post on Thursday. “His personal life is frankly none of my business. But as a leader, I have yet to meet a better one.”
“Ousting him is financial suicide, and I can only assume there is a hidden ulterior motive because I can’t fathom any other reason for destroying the company’s value,” the Nvidia employee continued.
Prominent business leaders, including billionaires Bill Ackman and Elon Musk, have also defended Huang online.
“@JensenHuang is human. And he is an incredible human. Even incredible humans make mistakes,” Ackman posted on X on Sunday. “Onward.”
Musk responded “I agree” to a post from Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire arguing “Jensen is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of this generation … he did something incredibly dumb … it was bad for America … but my guess is there was no bad intention … [and] two mistakes don’t make a right, and I believe Jensen is irreplaceable for America’s AI leadership.”
Nvidia didn’t immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
PR experts question the six-day wait
The timing comes from a message sent to Nvidia employees that has since circulated publicly: “You will hear more from leadership in the coming days about our future together, and we will host a meeting on November 18 at 9 am PT.”
“We play a vital role in building the technology that is powering the AI revolution, and we have important work ahead of us,” the message continued. “So let’s move forward together, with the same determination and commitment that have always defined this company.”
The meeting also lands the day after Nvidia reports third-quarter results on Nov. 17, meaning Wall Street will hear from the company’s new leadership before employees get a company-wide forum.
Annie Scranton, founder and CEO of Pace Public Relations, told Fortune that while Kress gets points for how quickly the message went out and its overall tone, the timing of the all-hands meeting isn’t great.
“The problem lies with her giving a specific day that is nearly a week away for the all-hands,” Scranton said. “She should have just stopped after the line referencing that employees will hear more from leadership in the coming days.
“‘Coming days’ to me does not mean six days away,” she continued.
Scranton said that, “Understanding that they have a ton to work out,” Kress should have pushed to do the meeting on Monday, working through the weekend to figure out messaging and next steps.
“Even if she didn’t have every single aspect 100% sorted out at that moment, it’s too long to wait,” she added. “It gives employees too much time to stew, talk, get upset, and have morale and their stock plummet even more than it already has.”
Amy Cuthbertson, founder of ACA PR, also would’ve favored an earlier, live briefing in which staff could have heard from Kress and raised their concerns sooner, she told Fortune.
“Managers also need to be given clear guidance so they can support their teams and be in a position to answer their questions consistently,” Cuthbertson said.
What Kress should tell employees
On what to expect from Kress, Cuthbertson said the interim CEO should avoid speculating about the investigation or promising answers she’s not in a position to give.
“That said, she can still explain what is known and what remains to be determined,” Cuthbertson said. “She can also explain to staff how they will be kept updated.”
To be sure, Johan Konst, founder of tech PR agency EUSA PR, said Kress “struck the right tone” by thanking employees and acknowledging the difficulty of the situation, adding he thinks six days for a company-wide meeting is “reasonable.”
But “it’s too long for employees to wait to ask their first question,” he said. “I would invite questions today and answer the most pressing ones tomorrow.”
