[Money Talks] Dangerous Emperor Jensen Huang... Ultimately, the fate of the company is decided by the CEO.

# NVIDIA, which controls the global industrial ecosystem and capital market, is in crisis. On the 12th (local time), Nvidia's board of directors announced the resignation of founder and CEO Jensen Huang. He completely resigned from Nvidia, relinquishing not only his position as president but also his position as director. With this news, Nvidia's market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange evaporated by more than $600 billion (approximately 801 trillion won) at one point during trading, and its stock price closed at $166.19, down 4.3% from the previous day.

Jensen Huang is an established figure who started out as a confident young entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and has led the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution for 33 years. The shock was even greater as he was well known in Korea for his down-to-earth and friendly leadership, enjoying ‘chicken and beer’ with the chairman of large conglomerates without any formality.

The public's attention is focused on the affair scandal in which Jensen Huang is alleged to have had an inappropriate relationship with a person suspected of being involved with Chinese intelligence agencies and an executive under his immediate control.

However, although this incident is superficially covered by his extramarital affairs, its essence goes beyond a simple private life scandal.

The key point is that internal control did not work at all in the ‘one-man emperor management’ system.

While cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chips worth trillions of won were flowing into Chinese big tech through Singapore-based startups and Southeast Asian intermediary networks, global company Nvidia was unable to filter them out.

End-user verification is known to be fundamental in large-scale semiconductor transactions. The compliance system did not work while cutting-edge graphics processing units (GPUs), which big tech companies around the world could not obtain despite queuing up, were being transferred en masse to unidentified new companies. Even the board of directors, which was supposed to check management whose judgment was clouded, lost its function.

This situation is not light in that it can escalate into a U.S. national security issue and affect the entire global AI supply chain. It seems difficult for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to avoid short-term risks if Nvidia's situation is resolved and the U.S. authorities' verification and internal audit are carried out in parallel.

＃ The Jensen Huang incident shows that no matter how overwhelming a company's technology, monopoly position, and sales power may be, one CEO's arrogance and ethical flaws can quickly push the company to the edge of a cliff.

This proves once again that whether it is a company with an owner, a professional management system, or a public corporation, the most decisive criterion for distinguishing between a good company and a stock to invest in is the CEO, not the numbers in the financial statements.

In his book, Philip Fisher, a pioneer of modern investment theory who was considered by Warren Buffett as a teacher, presented 15 investment principles for selecting companies for investment, and selected the quality of managers as the key to evaluating qualitative factors of a company.

In particular, Fisher emphasized the management's outstanding ability and future vision, and above all, 'unquestionable truthfulness' as the top values.

What qualities do the managers of the company I invested in or the company I worked for have?

Isn’t he a dangerous emperor intoxicated by unchecked power? Is he a dictator who ignores the voices of his employees through biased appointments, or is he a manager who is only focused on earning the maximum performance bonus during his term while ignoring the sustainability of the company?

Whether you are an investor or a job seeker, when choosing a company, you must first look at the management's philosophy and ethics, as well as the transparent decision-making structure.

A wise investor or job seeker would have to mercilessly erase a company from the list, no matter how high the score in all other indicators, if the manager is not a true manager who controls personal greed and respects the system.