Nvidia has lost $450 billion since Jensen Huang admitted to an affair. Millions of 401(k)s are exposed
Nvidia has since lost more than $450 billion in market value, according to CBS News.
Key points
- How much of a typical 401(k) is Nvidia “The average American’s exposure to NVIDIA stock volatility depends on how they invest, but a reasonable estimate is 3% to 5%,” Leonard Gilroy, senior managing director of the Reason Foundation’s Pension Integrity Project, told Fortune.
- “If an individual had 100% of their retirement invested in an S&P 500 or NASDAQ100 index fund and NVIDIA hypothetically lost 100% of its value, they could see a direct investment loss of about 5% to 10%.” That would be the worst case, and most retirement accounts are spread far more broadly.
- “About 70% of 401(k)s are invested in public equities,” Gilroy said, “and many investors hold a mix of index funds and target-date funds, which reduces exposure to one company.” Public pensions are even less exposed.
Nvidia shares fell nearly 8% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the chipmaker’s board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang.
Huang has run Nvidia since co-founding it in 1993, and Bloomberg has reported that the company is working with an outside firm to explore replacements.
Additional details
- 8, when Huang admitted to an affair with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International whom U.S.
- Founded in April 1993 and public since January 1999, Nvidia became the first company ever to reach a $5.5 trillion market cap in May 2026, per Yahoo Finance.
- The same day, The New York Times reported that Huang had a second extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care.
- A company that size sits inside the index funds and target-date funds that anchor millions of Americans’ 401(k)s, whether those savers chose it or not.
- “For individuals and pension funds alike, what happens to one major player in a dynamic market can spill over to other firms, such as AI companies and other large consumers of NVIDIA chips, so indirect investment risks beyond NVIDIA’s own performance can be significant,” Gilroy said.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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