Musk Questions Nvidia Board After Huang Exit Leaves 10 Directors

Elon Musk questioned Nvidia's board on Nov. 14 after Jensen Huang's departure left the chipmaker with 10 nonemployee directors and put the group overseeing its leadership transition in focus.

“This is the board making decisions about what used to be the most valuable company on Earth!?” Musk wrote. Huang resigned as Nvidia's president, CEO and a director on Nov. 11, reducing the board from 11 seats to 10.

The board includes directors with backgrounds in several industries. Dawn Hudson was PepsiCo's North American CEO and the NFL's chief marketing officer. Melissa B. Lora spent 31 years at Taco Bell and retired as its international president. Aarti Shah was Eli Lilly's chief information and digital officer.

Four long-serving directors joined the board in the 1990s. Tench Coxe and Mark A. Stevens were directors in 1993, as was Harvey C. Jones; A. Brooke Seawell joined in 1997. Coxe's venture capital background was at Sutter Hill Ventures, while Stevens was associated with Sequoia Capital. Jones was Synopsys' CEO, and Seawell was its CFO.

The four directors were listed with a combined 74.14 million shares. Applying Nvidia's Nov. 13 closing price of $162.85 to that total gives an estimated value of about $12.07 billion.