Mirae Asset's Park joins 'Stand With Jensen' petition, citing investor protection

Park Hyun-joo, chairman of Mirae Asset Group, has joined an online petition calling for the reinstatement of former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

According to sources in the financial investment industry, Park recently signed the "Stand With Jensen" petition.

Park called the Nvidia board's decision to force out Huang hasty, saying Huang "is a CEO who built civilization" and that his removal "could be a problem for the global AI ecosystem."

Park also stressed the need for investor protection, noting that South Korean investors hold around 30 trillion won ($22.5 billion) in Nvidia and that indirect exposure through Mirae Asset exchange-traded funds and other products amounts to an additional 5 trillion won.

A Mirae Asset Group spokesperson said the firm does not hold Nvidia in its proprietary accounts but supports the petition in the interest of protecting customers and investors. "Mirae Asset agrees with 'Stand With Jensen' from the standpoint of protecting our customers and investors," the spokesperson said.

The "Stand With Jensen" petition, which has drawn broad participation from shareholders and current and former Nvidia employees, had gathered more than 146,000 signatures as of Sunday evening Korean Standard Time.

Among the signatories alongside Park are Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla; Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games; Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator; and Aidan Gomez, co-founder of Cohere.

Huang resigned Thursday amid a series of allegations, including an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, who has been identified as a Chinese spy, and a separate relationship with a female employee. The board named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO.

Markets are watching Nvidia's third-quarter earnings release, scheduled for Tuesday, for signals on the company's direction going forward.