What Jensen Huang’s affair with suspected spy could mean for his marriage — and $150B fortune
Nvidia titan Jensen Huang’s affair with a suspected Chinese spy could cost him his marriage — and a massive chunk of his $150 billion fortune.
The Bay Area-based AI boss — who recently admitted to an affair with Alice Huang, a former tech executive suspected by US intelligence officials of spying for Beijing — has already quietly tucked around 740 million Nvidia shares into a web of family trusts and limited liability companies, securities filings show.
But his wife of more than 40 years, Lori Huang, could still be entitled to at least around 335 million shares — worth about $60 billion — if she call offs the marriage, even regardless of his cheating.
“In California, all property acquired by a spouse during marriage is community property,” said Christopher Melcher, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who specializes in high net worth divorces, to The Post. “She would be entitled to 50%.
“We’re a no-fault state. So evidence of infidelity is inadmissible in court and has no impact on his rights.”
As for how much Lori could demand, September securities filings show her husband has direct control of around 70 million shares, while the couple’s living trust and six LLCs involve roughly 600 million Nvidia shares — arrangements commonly used to manage family wealth and plan for inheritance.
That means Lori could potentially lay claim to around half the total 670 million of those shares — or 335 million, which are worth around $60 billion assuming they qualify as community property and the couple didn’t sign a prenup.
Around 140 million more shares sit in two irrevocable trusts, but those assets could be harder to reach in a divorce, depending on their terms.
“The odds of them having a prenup are very low,” noted Robert Farzad, another high-profile California divorce lawyer. “They met pretty young, in college, and he didn’t have anything when they met.”
The Huangs’ much-heralded longtime relationship began when the pair were teenagers taking an electrical engineering class at Oregon State University, and Jensen has repeatedly credited his wife as being the best thing that ever happened to him.
Their onetime storybook romance produced two kids, both of whom work for Nvidia — and featured the tech honcho publicly gushing over his devoted, behind-the-scenes partner.
“To my wife and family: I love you,” the shamed exc said in a mea culpa over his affair with Huang. “I know an apology cannot undo what I have done. I hope our family will heal and that, over time, I can earn back your trust.”
If Lori decides to divorce her husband, she won’t be hurting for cash, but the question is still just how much.
For starters, any shares she acquired from her CEO husband would be subject to federal regulations and insider-trading laws.
“How she can sell if she wants to sell, when she can sell — all of those things are governed very carefully by the law,” Farzad said.
“She could also ask for cash in exchange for it, but typically, when you’re dealing with values this high, it’s not practical. He’s not going to reach into his pocket and pull out billions,” the expert said.
The pair might try to salvage their marriage. But even couples counseling might not save Huang half his fortune.
“If they stay together, I have to imagine there’s going to be more than the apology he gave,” Melcher said. “There could be a financial divorce as a result of this, even if they stay together as a couple.”
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Whatever happens, Farzad said, he suspects it will be mostly behind-closed-doors.
“It’s very common in situations like this for the divorce to be kept out of a public forum,” Farzad said.
“These people have more money than they can spend in a thousand lifetimes. I don’t see fights in a courtroom. I don’t see a lot of public spectacle. Because who does that end up hurting if that ends up happening? It ends up hurting Nvidia. And both of their fortunes are tied up in Nvidia.”
But that doesn’t mean a potential divorce would be amicable, Melcher said.
“When somebody’s been cheated on, she might think their whole marriage has been a lie. So someone might question whether money’s been hidden. She would be rightfully questioning all of the financial disclosures he would provide. … The trust is broken,” he said.