▲ Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA
Amid the affair scandal surrounding NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang (63), past scandals involving global information technology (IT) tycoons that previously shook public attention are drawing renewed focus.
According to foreign media reports on November 10, a considerable number of CEOs who drove the IT boom amidst the success myth of Silicon Valley and rose to prominent figures have suddenly plummeted into “figures of controversy” as scandals quietly whispered in the industry came to light.
The individual who recently drew public attention for an extramarital affair is undoubtedly Microsoft (MS) founder Bill Gates (71).
Gates, who was embroiled in suspicions of maintaining close ties with the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (1953–2019) and contracting a sexually transmitted disease through an extramarital affair, admitted to his infidelity in February of this year.
At the time, Gates stated, “There were two affairs in the past,” adding, “The partners were a Russian bridge player met during a bridge game, and a Russian nuclear physicist met during business activities.”
The Russian nuclear physicist was known to be a former employee of Gates’ company, but it has not been confirmed whether she met Gates while employed there.
▲ Bill Gates
According to the “Epstein documents” additionally released earlier this year, Gates was suspected of having relationships with Russian women, contracting a sexually transmitted disease, and trying to hide this fact from his ex-wife, Melinda.
Gates argued that his affair partners were not victims of Epstein’s sexual exploitation.
However, his ex-wife Melinda, who divorced Gates in 2021, stated that the Epstein documents “brought back memories of a very painful time during our marriage” and added, “Remaining questions are matters that my ex-husband [Bill Gates] must answer.”
Prior to this, in 2019, U.S. entertainment media outlets successively reported on affair rumors surrounding Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (62).
The partner was former broadcast journalist Lauren Sanchez, and it was reported that both Bezos and Sanchez were in a period of separation from their respective spouses.
The National Enquirer reported that it captured Bezos and Sanchez spending time together on private jets, limousines, helicopters, and 5-star hotel resorts.
Later, Bezos ended his 26-year marriage to ex-wife MacKenzie Scott and held an ultra-luxurious wedding with Sanchez in Venice, Italy, over a three-day period in June of last year.
At the time, the wedding was reported to have cost approximately 70 billion Korean won.
The Italian Ministry of Tourism explained that Bezos’ wedding was expected to generate an economic impact of 957 million euros (about 1.5 trillion Korean won at the then exchange rate), an amount equivalent to 68 percent of the annual revenue of the tourist city of Venice.
▲ Sergey Brin
Google co-founder Sergey Brin (53) married Anne Wojcicki, founder of the biotechnology firm 23andMe, in 2007 to become a Silicon Valley billionaire couple, but divorced in 2015 following years of separation.
At the time, U.S. media reported that Brin’s affair with Amanda Rosenberg, a 14-years-younger female Google employee, was the reason for the divorce.
Brin later remarried another woman, Nicole Shanahan, but divorced once again in 2022.
In 2018, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich (66) was forced to step down in disgrace after it was revealed that he had violated company rules prohibiting workplace romance.
An investigation confirmed that Krzanich violated company policy prohibiting managerial-level and above personnel from engaging in internal relationships.
Oracle founder and Chairman Larry Ellison (82) has married six times and divorced five times.
Chairman Ellison has reportedly been involved in romantic relationships with multiple female employees in the past.
His sixth and current wife is of Chinese descent and is reportedly 47 years younger than Chairman Ellison.
The fallout from CEO Jensen Huang’s affair scandal is spreading far and wide.
The Democratic Party, which recently achieved a landslide victory in the U.S. midterm elections, has directly targeted CEO Huang, escalating the incident into a political offensive against the Donald Trump administration and the Republican Party.
While President Donald Trump has continuously defended CEO Huang, pressure is expected to mount from various angles as an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also begun.
(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
