Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos to the Coldplay Kiss Cam: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair not the first involving a top executive to shake the tech corporate world

A fresh case of an extramarital affair shook the corporate world when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged to the tech giant’s board that he had been intimate with a business executive who U.S. intelligence determined was gathering information for Beijing.

Nvidia said on Sunday that the company would launch an investigation into the case. Huang did not name the person in the extramarital affair. According to The New York Times, US intelligence determined that the executive, who is at the center of the investigation, was gathering information for Beijing.

Huang’s case is not the first that has shaken the tech world, and there are multiple reported instances of similar cases of extramarital affairs involving top executives of tech giants.



1. Steve Easterbrook (McDonald’s)


In 2019, McDonald's fired its then CEO Steve Easterbrook after he admitted to having exchanged videos and text messages in a nonphysical, consensual relationship with an employee. At the time, the company had said that he had violated the policy.

According to news agency AP, he had paid back more than $105 million in equity awards and cash to the company after it learned that he had lied about the extent of his misconduct while he was its top executive.

In the following year, the burger giant had received an anonymous tip from an employee claiming that Easterbrook had engaged in a sexual relationship with another employee.

An investigation was launched, and the company confirmed that relationship as well as two other physical and sexual relationships with employees in the year before it fired its top executive. According to AP, the company said Easterbrook had removed evidence of those relationships from his phone.


2. Jeff Bezos (Amazon)

In the beginning of 2019, a report by the tabloid Enquirer published an explosive report making claims about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bringing to light his relationship with Lauren Sanchez, a former TV anchor who was also married at the time.

Later, as the news of the affair shook the world, Bezos’s divorce with his wife of 25 years was finalized, and a settlement took place.


3. Brian Krzanich (Intel)


In 2018, a case of corporate affairs shook the tech world when Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned after the company learned of what it called a past, consensual relationship with an employee, according to AP.


Also Read: ‘Have not spoken to him about it, I just know he… ’: Trump breaks silence on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair and tech giant’s probe into China’s espionage


Back then, the tech giant said that the relationship was in violation of the company’s non-fraternization policy, which applies to all managers. At the time, spokesman William Moss had said that Intel has had the policy in place for “many years.”


4. Bill Gates (Microsoft)


In 2021, Microsoft carried out a probe into co-founder Bill Gates' involvement with an employee in 2000, almost two decades ago. According to the tech giant, the investigation was launched after the tech giant was told in 2019 that he had tried to start a romantic relationship with the person.

Microsoft said it had received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Gates "had sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000," a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement, as quoted by news agency Reuters.


5. Andy Byron: Coldplay Kiss Cam


The 2025 Coldplay Kiss cam involving Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and company’s HR executive Kristin Cabot took the Internet by storm. The incident erupted after the two caught cuddling and smiling on camera during a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The two were caught by surprise when Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his “Jumbotron Song” during the concert. As the couple saw themselves on the big screen, Cabot’s jaw dropped, her hands flew to her face, and she tried dodging the camera while Byron ducked out of the frame.

The incident flooded social media with endless memes, parody videos, and screenshots of the pair’s shocked faces. In the aftermath of the Coldplay kiss cam incident, Byron and Cabot stepped down from their positions and left the organization.