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In one of the biggest unenforced errors in the history of the AI industry, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted on Sunday that he had cheated on his wife with an alleged Chinese spy.
The embarrassing news sent shares of the AI chipmaker — a bellwether for an economy overindexed on AI — plummeting, wiping out almost 30 percent of the company’s valuation.
Nvidia’s board of directors has since launched an independent investigation into the billionaire’s affair, further clouding his grip on the company. Huang has no clear successor.
Adding to the drama is the specter of divorce. Lori Huang, Jensen’s wife of over 40 years whom he before founding Nvidia, could earn a staggering amount of money if she were to split up. As Forbes reports, Huang’s stake is held in trusts that are controlled by both spouses as co-trustees.
Put simply, Huang’s wife appears to be in a strong bargaining position as Nvidia navigates a PR disaster of epic proportions.
“By virtue of their status as co-trustees of the Huang Trust, The Huang 2012 Irrevocable Trust, and The Huang Irrevocable Remainder Trust, each of Mr. Huang and his wife may be deemed to have shared beneficial ownership of, and to exercise shared voting and investment power over” the shares, according to a 2026 annual report.
How much Lori Huang could be worth if the two were to part ways is unclear and would almost certainly be contested legally. The CEO owns over 870 million shares of Nvidia, or roughly 3.6 percent of the company. After the company’s recent losses, those shares are still worth just under $150 billion. If Lori Huang is entitled to half of the shares in the case of a divorce, she could get at least $75 billion, per Forbes — and that’s assuming the value of the company’s stock doesn’t bounce back.
However, since we don’t know the details regarding any possible pre- or postnuptial agreements, that number could change significantly. We also don’t know the current condition of their marriage, as Lori Huang has yet to publicly respond to her husband’s promises to “earn back your trust.”
A $75 billion fortune would eclipse even Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott’s windfall, which was worth $36 billion when they divorced in 2022.
