Original ｜Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author｜Golem (@web3_golem)
On November 8, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang admitted to an extramarital affair in an internal letter sent to all employees, and apologized to his wife, family, and company employees: "I owe my family and all of you an apology. I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."
On the same day, the Nvidia board of directors announced the launch of an independent investigation into Jensen Huang, to be handled by a special committee composed of independent directors, and hired external independent legal counsel to review the matter.
The board said there is currently no reason to believe that U.S. national security or Nvidia's core trade secrets have been leaked, and stated that it still trusts Jensen Huang and his management team. John Rizzo, Nvidia's head of public policy communications, confirmed that this incident will not affect the company's operations, and Jensen Huang will continue to serve as CEO and lead the company normally, but the market still reacted sharply. According to MSX.COM data, Nvidia fell 4% in after-hours trading, with about $180 billion in market value wiped out.
Jensen Huang and the girlfriend with whom he had an affair (Source: Internet)
In this decline, in addition to worrying that Jensen Huang's extramarital affair scandal may affect the company's operations, the market also cannot rule out that investors are trading ahead of expectations of Jensen Huang's divorce.
According to Forbes' real-time wealth rankings as of November 8, Jensen Huang's net worth exceeds $162.2 billion, ranking eighth in the world, with 99% of his wealth coming from Nvidia shares. Jensen Huang and his wife Lori Huang have been married for more than 40 years, but Nvidia was founded after the two married, which means that if Jensen Huang ultimately does divorce his wife, under California law, Lori Huang could receive at least more than $62.5 billion worth of Nvidia shares—which would become the second-largest divorce case in history, second only to Bill and Melinda Gates.
An inventory of Jensen Huang's assets: $151.5 billion in Nvidia shares, 3 properties in the United States
According to the Form 4 submitted by Jensen Huang on September 18, 2026, he holds a total of 811,521,160 Nvidia shares, accounting for about 3.37% of the company, worth about $151.5 billion (calculated based on NVDA's closing price of $186.64 on November 7).
Among them, Jensen Huang personally directly holds 70,100,666 shares, worth about $13 billion; Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Living Trust holds 467,693,547 shares, worth $87.29 billion; Huang Irrevocable Remainder Trust holds 109,040,602 shares, worth $20.35 billion; Huang 2012 Irrevocable Trust holds 31,421,011 shares, worth $5.86 billion; six TARG limited liability companies collectively hold 133,265,334 shares, worth about $24.87 billion, wholly owned by the Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Living Trust.
In addition, according to public reports, Jensen Huang and his wife also own 3 properties, currently estimated at a fair value of about $70 million to $95 million; the couple's main residence is a home in Los Altos Hills, California, purchased in 2003 for $6.9 million, currently estimated at a fair value of about $15 million to $25 million.
Los Altos Hills residence (fair value estimated at about $15 million–$25 million)
In 2004, Jensen Huang also purchased a gated beachfront villa in Wailea, Maui, for $7.5 million, currently estimated at a fair value of about $15 million to $30 million.
Wailea, Maui beachfront villa (fair value estimated at about $15 million–$30 million)
Around 2017, Jensen Huang purchased an 11,400-square-foot luxury home in San Francisco's Gold Coast through a limited liability company for about $38 million, currently estimated at a fair value of about $40 million.
San Francisco Gold Coast residence (estimated fair value approximately $40 million)
How would hundreds of billions of dollars in assets be divided?
Jensen Huang and his current wife Lori Huang (née Mills) married in 1985, about 41 years ago, and have a son and a daughter (Madison and Spencer, both of whom work at NVIDIA). The two mainly live in California, and NVIDIA's headquarters is also in Santa Clara, California. If the two divorce, it would most likely be handled in California, applying California's community property system.
Jensen Huang and his family
California is a typical community property state in the United States. Under Section 770 of the Family Code, property acquired by spouses during the marriage is in principle community property and is divided equally (50/50) upon divorce, while premarital property, gifts, and inheritances are separate property of each spouse. In addition, California implements no-fault divorce, and extramarital affairs themselves do not affect the proportion of property division.
However, if Jensen Huang used community property during the marriage to buy gifts for the object of an extramarital relationship, pay large expenses, or conceal community property by transferring assets, then, under California's Family Code, the court may award the other party 50% or 100% of the relevant assets depending on the extent.
NVIDIA was founded in 1993, later than the two married. Under California's community property system, if the two did not sign a prenuptial agreement or a postnuptial property agreement, the founder shares acquired during the marriage and held in Jensen Huang's name would in principle be recognized as community property.
However, the 811,521,160 shares under Jensen Huang's name are disclosures of direct and indirect beneficial ownership within the meaning of SEC securities law, and do not equal shares that Jensen Huang can freely dispose of personally, still less community property that can be directly split in half upon divorce.
According to the statistics above, Jensen Huang directly holds only about 70.1 million NVIDIA shares in his own name. Most of the remaining shares are held in a living trust jointly owned by him and his wife and in six limited liability companies (LLCs) under that trust, and these LLCs will return the shares to the trust over time. California's community property system provides that after marital property is transferred into a revocable trust, it retains its character as community property during the marriage.
Therefore, on the premise that these four assumptions hold simultaneously—assuming divorce, assuming no property agreement, assuming all these shares are recognized as community property, and assuming equal division—what enters the division pool is the 671 million NVIDIA shares held in total by Jensen Huang's personal direct holdings, the Living Trust, and the six TARG LLCs, worth about $125.2 billion, of which Lori Huang could theoretically receive half, about 335 million shares, worth about $62.6 billion.
Jensen Huang also holds about 140 million NVIDIA shares through two irrevocable trusts, and the handling of property in these two irrevocable trusts is much more complicated than that of revocable trusts and LLCs.
Jensen Huang and Lori Huang are both co-trustees of these two trusts, and the specific list of beneficiaries has not been disclosed in public information. However, according to foreign media reports, the main purpose of these two trusts, established in 2012 and 2016 respectively, was to move the future appreciation of NVIDIA shares out of the estate tax scope of Jensen Huang and his wife and pass it on to the next generation, and the ultimate beneficiaries are very likely Spencer Huang and Madison Huang.
Therefore, this portion of NVIDIA shares, worth more than $26.2 billion, is very likely not to be divided because of divorce, and Lori Huang is unlikely to directly receive half of the shares, but if there is a divorce, she can still assert rights to future distributions or appreciation of the trust.
At the same time, because Jensen Huang holds a huge number of shares and voting rights are involved, courts rarely adopt the approach of forcibly "physically splitting" the shares and transferring them to the wife, and usually suggest using other assets (cash, real estate, etc.) to compensate one party, or establishing a constructive trust so that one party holds the shares due to the other on their behalf and distributes the proceeds upon sale, and there will not be large-scale stock selling.
Of course, the above property division is only an analysis based on public information and general legal principles of California, not legal advice, and certainly not the actual result. As for where this marriage will ultimately go, it is currently unknown.
