Elon Musk Joins 130,000 Petition Signers Demanding Jensen Huang Return as Nvidia Investors Pressure the Board

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Pressure on Nvidia's board grew over the weekend, as two major shareholders urged directors to keep the door open to Jensen Huang's return. Elon Musk and tens of thousands of others signed an online petition calling for the ousted founder to be reinstated.

The campaign began days after Huang resigned on Nov. 12 as Nvidia's president, CEO and board member. He had led the company for 33 years. The board then began searching for a permanent successor.

Investors Call for "Deliberate" Process

Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner posted a letter on X on Friday urging Nvidia's board to "pursue a slow, measured, and deliberate process regarding the future leadership of Nvidia." Atreides Management founder Gavin Baker also signed the letter.

The two investors asked directors to weigh every option, including "the potential return of Jensen Huang." They stopped short of demanding that he be reinstated right away.

"We believe the Board should avoid a rush to replace Jensen that undermines and thwarts the best interests of shareholders," the letter said.

The investors acknowledged that the decision belongs to the board. They said that if, once all the facts are known, directors decide Huang should not return, "that is the Board's prerogative."

The letter also said Nvidia would be "capably led" in the meantime by interim CEO Colette Kress. Kress has been Nvidia's chief financial officer since 2013.

According to their most recent regulatory filings, Altimeter holds about 9.4 million Nvidia shares and Atreides about 1.2 million. CNBC put their combined stake at about $2.13 billion as of June 30.

Baker had raised the issue before Huang stepped down. "I believe shareholders should be able to vote on Jensen if anything is going to happen before the investigation is finished," he wrote on X earlier in the week.

Musk Signs Petition

The online petition, called "Stand With Jensen," gained momentum after Musk publicly backed it.

"A petition is underway to reinstate Jensen and I'm signing it too," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO wrote on X on Friday.

On Saturday Musk went further, warning on X that without Huang, some "critical deals will be lost." He argued that many of Nvidia's supply-chain arrangements depended on Huang personally.

Other signers listed on the site include:

• Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney
• Replit CEO Amjad Masad
• Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan
• Cohere co-founder Aidan Gomez, according to South Korean media

By late Friday the petition said it had more than 130,000 signatures, according to its own tally. Earlier counts had it at about 110,000. The site said the signers included tens of thousands of self-identified shareholders and more than 6,000 people who identified themselves as current Nvidia employees.

The signatures are self-reported, and the campaign has no identity verification. The site says neither Nvidia nor Huang endorses it.

The open letter on the site says Huang was removed "without meaningful due process." It also says: "Jensen deserves due process, not mob justice."

Huang's return is ultimately up to the board. Under Nvidia's bylaws, only directors can appoint a chief executive.

Fake Executive Letter Circulates

The campaign has also produced a forgery. On Thursday a letter appeared on X that seemed to be signed by senior Nvidia executives, including Ian Buck, chief scientist Bill Dally, chief technology officer Michael Kagan and co-founder Chris Malachowsky.

The document demanded that the entire board resign, that new independent directors be appointed and that Huang be reinstated. It threatened that the signers would otherwise quit and join a SpaceX project.

The letter was quickly identified as a near-copy of the protest letter OpenAI employees sent to their board in November 2023, after Sam Altman was briefly removed as CEO. The forger had largely swapped in the names of the companies and people.

Bryan Catanzaro, an Nvidia vice president whose name was also on the document, publicly rejected it.

"There is a made-up letter circulating online asking NVIDIA's board to reinstate Jensen, claiming my involvement. This letter is obviously fake, and even if it were real I would not sign it," Catanzaro wrote on X. He also said he was "grief-stricken that Jensen is no longer with NVIDIA" and expressed support for the board and Kress.

Buck and Dally had not commented publicly on the letter.

Succession Race Takes Shape

As the campaign grows, attention has also turned to who might lead Nvidia long term.

Kress, 59, is serving as interim CEO while keeping her CFO role. Nvidia has said its board will consider candidates from inside and outside the company.

Among internal executives, Buck is widely mentioned as a contender. He joined Nvidia in 2004 and led development of CUDA, the software platform that let the company's graphics chips be used for artificial intelligence. He now oversees much of Nvidia's data center business.

Outside the company, attention has focused on Rene Haas, CEO of British chip designer Arm. Haas worked at Nvidia from 2006 to 2013 and rose to vice president before joining Arm. He became Arm's CEO in 2022 and led its stock market listing the next year.

On Friday the Financial Times reported that Nvidia's board had approached Haas, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters said it could not independently verify the report.

The board pushed back. "We are in the process of selecting a search firm for the Nvidia CEO role," it said, adding that it had not formally engaged any potential candidates. The board also said speculation about individual candidates was premature.

Prediction markets have also weighed in. A Kalshi market on Saturday put Haas ahead of the internal candidates and gave Huang roughly a 9% chance of returning.

Why Huang Left

Nvidia's resignation announcement did not give a reason. Huang left after reports about his personal relationships and while an independent board investigation was under way.

The reports involve an extramarital relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed. U.S. officials have reportedly investigated her on suspicion of espionage. She has not been charged, and the allegations have not been proven.

The matter has drawn attention in Washington. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Dec. 10 about U.S. efforts to stop China from getting advanced AI chips. Huang has also been asked to testify, according to CNBC.

An Uncertain Path Ahead

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and built it from a graphics-chip startup into the dominant supplier of the processors that power the global AI boom. That role made him one of the most influential executives in the technology industry.

His sudden departure has left investors, employees and partners uncertain about the company's direction at a crucial time for the AI industry.

For now, Kress is running the company, the board is selecting a search firm, and Huang's supporters are asking directors to wait until the investigation is finished before making a final decision.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.