‘I’m a Piece of Sh--’ Jensen Last Hours, Dutch Millionaires Tax, German Dentists €1B Bill

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

Caroline Hepker (0:09)

This is the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe Podcast. Good morning from London. It's Friday the 13th of November. I'm Caroline Hepker.

Ben Boulos (0:16)

And I'm Ben Boulos. Coming up today, Nvidia's board hunts for a new CEO as the US investigates if the firm's chips were smuggled into China.

Caroline Hepker (0:24)

I'm a piece of sh.dot.dot, an exclusive look inside Jensen Huang's last hours as the boss of Nvidia.

Ben Boulos (0:31)

A Dutch vote to raise taxes on the wealthy risks toppling the country's government.

Caroline Hepker (0:36)

Plus, financial root canal, the inside story of why Berlin's dentists now face a billion euro hit after a pension fund scandal involving a Ferrari, a yacht and risky bets.

Ben Boulos (0:49)

Let's start with a round up of our top stories.

Nvidia leading the news today as it tries to steady itself after the dramatic ouster of long time CEO Jensen Huang. But his departure is triggering a wider fallout from a US investigation to growing scrutiny in Washington. Nvidia is turning to long time CFO Colette Kress for stability while it searches for a permanent replacement. Here's Bloomberg Technologies' Ed Ludlow on the latest.

Ed Ludlow (1:17)

Nvidia did not give a reason specifically in its board statement for Huang's resignation. Huang is not quoted in the announcement. CFO Colette Kress becomes CEO on an interim basis while Nvidia's board conducts a pretty wide search of both internal and external candidates to lead this company that has become the dominant player in AI chips around the world. The question everyone closed the day with is what is Nvidia without Jensen Huang?

Ben Boulos (1:45)

Ed Ludlow there, as Bloomberg reporting shows US prosecutors are examining Alice Huang, the woman suspected of spying for China, who had an affair with Jensen Huang. They're probing whether entities linked to her were involved in efforts to smuggle technology into China. And lawmakers in America are now questioning whether US officials did enough to prevent advanced Nvidia chips reaching China.

Illinois Democrat, Raja Krishnamurthy, says the system clearly wasn't working.

Raja Krishnamurthy (2:12)

So this is a freaking disaster at this point, and it deserves tremendous scrutiny, not only by obviously Nvidia's board, but by the intelligence community and the US government as well.

Ben Boulos (2:26)

Raja Krishnamurthy, who's Illinois' representative in the House speaking there. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is facing scrutiny over his department's handling of chip export controls. He's agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee, as lawmakers demand answers over possible law enforcement gaps.

Caroline Hepker (2:43)

Wang's exit comes after weeks spent denying the allegations of infidelity.

After he resigned, Reuters reported that the Nvidia CEO had an intimate relationship with a third woman. Bloomberg's Chris Pitt has an exclusive look inside Jensen Huang's dramatic final days at Nvidia.

Chris Pitt (3:03)

Sources tell Bloomberg that Jensen Huang looked broken and shattered in his final days running Nvidia. Insiders say he called himself a piece of S-H dot-dot, and began saying whatever and I don't care. It was a startling change for a CEO famous for his legendary energy and attention to detail. Just weeks earlier, Huang was a global face of AI with close ties to the White House and global world leaders.

But by the end, people in the room saw a man whose usual take-charge demeanour had disappeared. In their eyes, they say, he had simply given up. In London, Chris Pitt, Bloomberg Radio.

Ben Boulos (3:45)

The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says a Chinese AI model was used in recent hacks on French supermarket refrigerators. His remarks come after around 700 stores and the country's public blood banks were affected by the incident.

During a speech at the Heritage Foundation yesterday, Bessent said the technology lacked safety measures.

Scott Bessent (4:04)

Their models are dangerous because they don't have guardrails on them. So I predict you're probably going to see a big incident somewhere in the world. I don't know who here saw the refrigerators and 150 grocery stores in France that got turned off. That was a Chinese model.

Probably the worst of all worlds, the Iranians using a Chinese model.

Ben Boulos (4:29)

Scott Bessent had spoken about the topic after the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrobe had blamed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard for the disruption. Supermarkets in Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Estonia also reported cyber attacks on cooling systems.

Caroline Hepker (4:45)

In terms of Anthropic, the Anthropic IPO has drawn about six times the orders for the shares available. Bloomberg understands that the Claude AI model and its co-founders are seeking to raise as much as $64.4 billion in the IPO and $26 billion in a private placement. Here is Bloomberg's Mark Cranfield talking about disturbing signs despite some optimism.