Original ｜ Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Golem (@web3_golem)
On November 8, Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, acknowledged an extramarital affair in an internal email to all employees and apologized to his wife, family, and company staff: “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, NVIDIA’s board of directors announced the initiation of an independent investigation into Huang Renxun, to be conducted by a special committee of independent directors and supported by external independent legal counsel.
The board stated that there is currently no reason to believe that U.S. national security or NVIDIA’s core trade secrets have been compromised, and expressed continued trust in Jensen Huang and his management team. John Rizzo, NVIDIA’s Head of Public Policy Communications, confirmed that this incident will not affect company operations, and Jensen Huang will continue to serve as CEO and lead the company as usual. However, markets reacted sharply: according to MSX.COM data, NVIDIA’s after-hours trading fell by 4%, erasing approximately $180 billion in market value.
Jensen Huang with his mistress (source: internet)
In this downturn, besides concerns that Huang Renxun’s extramarital affair may impact company operations, investors may also be positioning themselves ahead of the expectation of his divorce.
According to Forbes' real-time wealth ranking as of November 8, Jensen Huang's net worth exceeds $162.2 billion, ranking him eighth globally, with 99% of his wealth derived from NVIDIA shares. Huang has been married to his wife, Lori Huang, for over 40 years, but NVIDIA was founded after their marriage. This means that if Huang were to divorce Lori, under California law, she could be entitled to at least $62.5 billion worth of NVIDIA shares—making it the second-largest divorce settlement in history, behind only the divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates.
Jensen Huang's asset inventory: $151.5 billion in NVIDIA shares, three properties in the United States
According to the Form 4 filed by Jensen Huang on September 18, 2026, he holds a total of 811,521,160 shares of NVIDIA, representing approximately 3.37% of the company, with a value of approximately $151.5 billion (based on NVIDIA’s closing price of $186.64 on November 7).
Among these, Jen-Hsun Huang personally holds 70,100,666 shares, valued at approximately $13 billion; the Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Living Trust holds 467,693,547 shares, valued at $87.29 billion; the Huang Irrevocable Remainder Trust holds 109,040,602 shares, valued at $20.35 billion; the Huang 2012 Irrevocable Trust holds 31,421,011 shares, valued at $5.86 billion; and six TARG LLCs collectively hold 133,265,334 shares, valued at approximately $24.87 billion, all of which are wholly owned by the Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Living Trust.
Split as follows. Jensen Huang personally holds 70,100,666 shares, valued at approximately $13 billion; the Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Living Trust (u/a/d May 1, 1995) holds 467,693,547 shares, valued at $87.29 billion; the Huang Irrevocable Remainder Trust (u/a/d February 19, 2016) holds 109,040,602 shares, valued at $20.35 billion; the Huang 2012 Irrevocable Trust holds 31,421,011 shares, valued at $5.86 billion; six TARG LLCs collectively hold 133,265,334 shares, valued at approximately $24.87 billion, each owned solely by the Living Trust as its sole member. Also in this Form 4, on September 17, the Living Trust gifted 438,000 shares—292,000 to The Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Foundation and 146,000 to a donor-advised fund—these shares are no longer included in the subsequent split pool.
In addition, according to public reports, Huang Renxun and his spouse also own three other properties, with a current estimated fair market value of $70 million to $95 million; their primary residence is a home in Los Altos Hills, California, purchased in 2003 for $6.9 million, with a current estimated fair market value of $15 million to $25 million.
Los Altos Hills residence (fair value estimated at $15 million–$25 million)
In 2004, Jensen Huang purchased a walled beachfront villa in Wailea, Maui, for $7.5 million, with its current fair value estimated at $15 million to $30 million.
Wailea Beach Villa, Maui (fair value estimated at $15 million–$30 million)
Around 2017, Jensen Huang purchased an 11,400-square-foot mansion in San Francisco’s Golden Coast through a limited liability company for approximately $38 million, with its current fair market value estimated at around $40 million.
San Francisco Golden Coast residence (estimated fair value of approximately $40 million)
How to divide hundreds of billions of dollars in assets?
Jensen Huang married his current wife, Lori Huang (née Mills), in 1985, and they have been married for approximately 41 years. They have two children, Madison and Spencer, both of whom work at NVIDIA. The couple primarily resides in California, where NVIDIA’s headquarters is also located in Santa Clara. If they were to divorce, it would most likely be handled in California, under the state’s community property laws.
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 either spouse during the marriage is generally considered community property and is divided equally (50/50) upon divorce. Property owned before marriage, as well as gifts and inheritances, are considered separate property. Additionally, California is a no-fault divorce state, and adultery itself does not affect the division of assets.
However, if Huang Renxun uses marital community property during the marriage to purchase gifts for an extramarital partner, make large expenditures, or conceal marital community property through asset transfers, then, according to the California Family Code, the court may award the other spouse 50% or 100% of the relevant assets, depending on the circumstances.
NVIDIA was founded in 1993, after the two got married. Under California’s community property laws, if the couple did not sign a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, the founder shares acquired by Jensen Huang during the marriage and held in his personal name would, in principle, be considered marital property.
However, the 811,521,160 shares under Huang Renxun’s name represent direct and indirect beneficial ownership disclosures under SEC securities laws and do not equate to shares freely disposable by Huang Renxun personally, nor do they constitute marital property that can be equally divided in a divorce.
According to the above statistics, Huang Renxun directly holds approximately 70.1 million shares of NVIDIA. The majority of the remaining shares are held in a revocable living trust jointly owned by him and his wife, as well as six limited liability companies (LLCs) under the trust, which will return the shares to the trust over time. Under California’s community property laws, assets transferred by spouses into a revocable trust remain community property during the marriage.
Therefore, under the assumption that all four conditions hold simultaneously—divorce, no property agreement, all shares deemed marital property, and equal division—the pool for division consists of 671 million shares of NVIDIA held directly by Jensen Huang, through the Living Trust, and by the six TARG LLCs, valued at approximately $125.2 billion. Lori Huang would theoretically be entitled to half of this, or approximately 335 million shares, valued at about $62.6 billion.
Jensen Huang also holds approximately 140 million shares of NVIDIA through two irrevocable trusts, which involve significantly more complex asset management than revocable trusts and LLCs.
Huang Renxun and Lori Huang are co-trustees of both trusts, and the specific beneficiaries have not been disclosed in public records. However, according to foreign media reports, the two trusts, established in 2012 and 2016 respectively, were primarily intended to transfer the future appreciation of NVIDIA shares outside the estate tax scope of Huang Renxun and his wife, passing them on to the next generation, with the ultimate beneficiaries most likely being Spencer Huang and Madison Huang.
Therefore, this portion of NVIDIA, valued at over $26.2 billion, is highly unlikely to be divided due to the divorce, and Lori Huang is unlikely to receive half the shares directly; however, if the divorce proceeds, she may still claim rights to future distributions or appreciation from the trust.
At the same time, due to the large number of shares held by Jensen Huang and the associated voting rights, courts rarely order a mandatory physical split and transfer of shares to the spouse. Instead, they typically recommend compensating one party with other assets (such as cash or real estate) or establishing a constructive trust, whereby one party holds the shares on behalf of the other and distributes proceeds upon sale—thereby avoiding large-scale share sales.
Of course, the above asset division is merely an analysis based on publicly available information and general legal principles in California; it is not legal advice, nor is it an actual outcome. As for how this marriage will ultimately unfold, it is currently unknown.
