Apple, Alphabet and Uber all survived major founder transitions; Nvidia will be a harder test

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang resigned on Thursday, following reports that he had an extramarital affair, and that one of the women was considered a Chinese spy by US intelligence agencies; CFO Colette Kress is temporarily in charge, and the board is searching for a new CEO. Over 33 years, Jensen Huang built the company he co-founded into the world's most valuable company. Experts interviewed said the successor faces challenges far beyond a typical founder transition: the company appears to have no succession plan, Jensen Huang had about 60 direct reports, and the new CEO must also deal with the fallout from the scandal and take over his relationships with Trump and key suppliers. The article compares precedents at Apple, Alphabet and Uber: Tim Cook was well prepared, Alphabet's stock rose more than 300% during Sundar Pichai's tenure, and Kalanick's departure from Uber took months. Investors believe the product roadmap is unaffected, and company culture and the supply chain are the new CEO's two top priorities.