How the world's papers framed the exit

The news that the Nvidia CEO was stepping down ran through Friday's press reviews, and the headlines were blunt. The Swiss daily Le Temps described the departure as the end of a reign over the semiconductor world, while the Italian daily Il Manifesto put it more bluntly still: "Game Over" for Huang.

That was how Le Figaro in Paris framed the Jensen Huang resignation. The paper tied the shock specifically to Nvidia's advanced AI chips, the company's most prized products, while Le Temps argued the case shows how the behaviour of tech moguls can impact entire corporate structures.

A revered image tarnished

The Times of London noted Huang had been an apparently devoted father and husband, married for 40 years, and that his followers are struggling to come to terms with revelations that have tarnished the image of the man they revered. The confession covered multiple affairs, one of them with a woman whom US authorities suspect of being a Chinese spy - the detail that turned a personal scandal into a geopolitical one.

Political and market ripples

Papers flagged consequences well beyond Nvidia's headquarters. The Times reported a possible third affair and that the fallout may impact US President Donald Trump, while Democrats are now planning a congressional investigation into how much Trump knew about the affairs.

• •The Financial Times reported that Nvidia shares plunged as uncertainty over who will succeed Huang grows; CFO Colette Kress will take over for now.
• •The Wall Street Journal suggested the crisis could harden Congress's resolve to close export-control loopholes and educate Americans about the serious threat of Chinese corporate espionage.

Chinese state-linked voices pushed back. Global Times editors rejected the notion that any connection to China makes a person a threat by default; in their view, prominence itself invites scrutiny, since the better-known and more powerful someone becomes, the more likely they are to be targeted under the banner of national security.

Elsewhere in the press

The same review rounded up lighter stories. Zinédine Zidane suffered his first defeat as coach of Les Bleus, losing 3-1 to Italy amid the rain in Milan on Thursday in the Nations League. L'Equipe lamented the loss, while Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport celebrated a "golden Italy".

• •In Virginia, a raccoon that raided a liquor store last year, drank 14 bottles of booze and passed out beside a toilet went viral.
• •The local animal shelter's "Trashed Panda" shirts, mugs and hats brought in nearly $300,000, far exceeding its annual $20,000 in donations.

La Tribune noted that the post-Jensen era of Nvidia has already begun, with Kress at the helm for now and uncertainty over a permanent successor weighing on the shares.