88% of employees support his retention, but the board of directors is checking him. How valuable is Huang Renxun's "employee public opinion"?

Abstract:

Recently, a tweet circulated on social platforms: 88% of NVIDIA employees surveyed hope that Huang Renxun will continue to serve as CEO, and only 1% hope that he will step down. The tweet also added: It would be outrageous if NVIDIA employees turned against each other and ousted the man who made half of them millionaires.

What did the investigation say?

The numbers come from a survey on the anonymous workplace community Blind, with a sample of 232 employees. The results are: 88% hope that Huang Renxun will stay in office, 11% hope that he will resign voluntarily, and only 1% hope that the board of directors will remove him.

According to this small-scale anonymous survey, the 11% who want Huang Renxun to resign voluntarily and the 1% who are dismissed total about 12%. These people also want him to leave his post, but in different ways.

What can this survey show?

The 232 people represent only a small portion of Nvidia’s workforce. Voting on Blind is conducted voluntarily by users and is not a random sample, and the composition of the participants cannot be verified. It can reflect part of the internal sentiment, but it cannot be regarded as the public opinion of all employees.

In addition, it is not surprising that Huang Renxun has a good reputation among employees. Blind's 2023 CEO satisfaction survey shows that

Nvidia employees' recognition of him is as high as 96%, ranking first that year

On November 8, Huang Renxun published an open letter to all employees on the company's website, apologizing for personal problems and apologizing to employees, the board of directors, partners and shareholders. He reportedly admitted to his employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife, allegedly with a Megaspeed executive. Subsequently, NVIDIA's board of directors announced the launch of an independent investigation.

External reactions have been mixed. Asked whether Huang should remain in office, Trump replied, "I think so." According to Axios, investors are publicly supportive but privately expressing disappointment. Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University, gave a "50-50" judgment on his probability of staying in office. Three U.S. congressional committees also want him to appear on November 18. Other media said the board was preparing to remove him and find a successor.

In August last year, The Kobeissi Letter disclosed a survey of NVIDIA employees, covering about one-tenth of the employees, and concluded that about half of the employees are already worth more than one million. A large amount of employees' wealth is tied to the company's stock price. They want the CEO to stay on, not only out of respect for the founder, but also out of practical considerations for the stock price and jobs. Jen-Hsun Huang himself has said that he has created more billionaires than any other CEO.