NEW YORK: “He’s irreplaceable,” Larry Ellison said.
The year was 2009 and Oracle’s then-chief executive officer was talking about his friend Steve Jobs, who had recently returned to lead Apple after a liver transplant. Pundits would later go on to say the same about Jeff Bezos, that Amazon.com’s founder and CEO had “no viable successor”. (Both companies, of course, would go on to do just fine without their founders.)
It’s worth remembering those prophecies as that word - irreplaceable - gets bandied around with abandon about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who stepped down Thursday (Nov 12) after nearly a week of turmoil at the company he cofounded and the industry he anchored.
One of many examples: “I believe Jensen is irreplaceable for America’s AI leadership,” Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire posted on X, a sentiment Elon Musk endorsed.
Guess WordCrack the word, one row at a timeBuzzwordCreate words using the given lettersMini SudokuTiny puzzle, mighty brain teaserMini CrosswordSmall grid, big challengeWord SearchSpot as many words as you can Show More Show LessRevelations from the New York Times on Wednesday, that Huang had an extramarital relationship with the company’s vice president of healthcare, made it impossible for the board to let him keep his job. While less shocking than Huang’s earlier admission that he had an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, he had clearly violated the company’s code of conduct to “avoid situations where our actions create a conflict”.
Before board members could make the case that Huang was the victim of a honeypot scheme. But there’s no convenient explanation for a relationship with a subordinate.