Tech Leaders Rally for Jensen Huang

“We believe the board should avoid rushing to replace Jensen, which undermines and frustrates the best interests of shareholders,” wrote Brad Gerstner, managing director of Altimeter Capital Management, and Gavin Baker, chief investment officer of Atreides Management. in the letter sent on friday. The investors, whose firms are Nvidia shareholders, asked the company’s board to consider “all options on the table, including the potential return of Jensen Huang.”

An Open Letter to Nvidia’s Board of Directorstitled “Stand With Jensen,” asked the board to reinstate Mr. Huang as CEO, conduct an independent investigation and explain its actions. As of Saturday morning, the letter had nearly 100,000 signatures, including current and former Nvidia employees, business partners such as Mr Musk, and start-up leaders and shareholders including Garry Tan, CEO of venture capital firm Y Combinator.

Some managers and investors took a more confrontational tone.

“Jensen made a rookie mistake,” said Pavel Durov, CEO of messaging app Telegram in a post on a social network on Friday. “Founders: Don’t Have a Board, Be a Board of Directors.” (Mr Durov’s app has been accused of enabling terrorism, crime and disinformation.)

Tim Sweeney, chief executive of video game maker Epic Games, said on Thursday that Nvidia’s board had “serious issues with the company’s governance” and that it had been “gassed” by pushing out “a once-in-a-generation visionary”.

On Wednesday, before Mr. Huang’s resignation, Mr. Sweeney he said that if Nvidia’s board removed Mr. Huang, the action would be “Apple dumping Steve Jobs to the level of idiocy.” Apple’s board of directors ousted Mr. Jobs in 1985, and he returned to the company, becoming CEO again in 1997.