Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive officer Fran Horowitz called the economy “uncertain,” Citigroup is looking to open its doors to smaller businesses, and Colette Kress helps lead Nvidia to record earnings. Have a great Thursday!
– Big gains. Investors have been looking forward to Nvidia’s second quarter earnings report with the breathless anticipation typically reserved for your home team’s long-shot Super Bowl victory.
And the company didn’t disappoint. In what some called the “most important tech earnings in years,” it beat expectations, reporting revenue of $30 billion—more than double what it reported this time last year. Though the company’s stock fell on the news of minor production snags, it is up more than 150% year-to-date, and its market value is only bested by the likes of Microsoft and Apple. Investors and analysts watched closely for a signal of the health of the broader AI market.
It’s a remarkable story, made only more so by the fact that few outside of the tech and investing spheres were paying attention to the company a year or so ago. And though CEO Jensen Huang is the figurehead of the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker, a not insignificant share of its success over the past decade can also be credited to CFO Colette Kress. In fact, Kress has been the key to turning Nvidia into Wall Street’s hottest stock, my colleague Sheryl Estrada recently reported.
“The CFO leadership at Nvidia from Colette Kress has been instrumental in Nvidia’s success with Wall Street, and is key to Jensen’s vision,” Dan Ives, managing partner at Wedbush Securities, told Estrada. “She is extremely well respected both internally at Nvidia and across the tech industry.”
When she joined, the company was known mainly by gamers who were wowed by its graphics processing chips. Now, it’s an artificial intelligence darling, producing the chips that power AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and one of the most valuable companies in the world. Kress herself is one of the most influential women in tech.
Kress was “advised” to join the company in 2013 by her then 8- and 10-year-old sons, according to an interview she gave last year with the Israeli financial newspaper Globes. With prior stints at Cisco and Microsoft, moving to Nvidia—a much smaller company at the time—was anything but the logical next step; but Huang persuaded Kress to come aboard as the company began to position itself as a key player in the growing AI industry.
“When I started at Nvidia, it was the smallest company that I’d ever worked for,” Kress told Fortune back in 2022. “It’s gotten quite large, but the focus is on, how do you think about the future and make sure we’re ready for it to scale?”
By all accounts, Kress and Nvidia were more than ready.
Alicia Adamczyk
alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Looking ahead. Clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch has experienced supercharged growth over the past year; revenue increased 21% during its second quarter. But the company may be preparing for a rocky rest of the year. CEO Fran Horowitz described the current economy as “an increasingly uncertain environment.” CNBC
- Going global. Stella Li, executive vice president of Chinese automaker BYD, said that “nearly half” of the company’s sales will be from overseas in the future. BYD has invested billions of dollars into production facilities around the world to meet its goal. Fortune
- New customers. Jane Fraser’s Citigroup is looking to expand its clientele to include small and midsize businesses, pushing into commercial lending with the hope of doubling its commercial banking revenue. Historically, the bank has only served large companies. Financial Times
- Under review. Thailand’s newly elected prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said that the country’s $14 billion stimulus plan would need to be reviewed. Thailand’s economy has been struggling recently and the stimulus was one of her predecessor's campaign pledges. Fortune
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Avista, an energy company, named Heather Rosentrater chief executive officer; she is the first female CEO at the company. Most recently, she was Avista’s COO.
SmartRecruiters, an enterprise talent acquisition software, appointed Rebecca Carr as chief executive officer and to its board of directors. Previously, Carr was the company’s chief product officer.
The National Portrait Gallery in London appointed Victoria Siddall as director, the first woman to hold the role. She most recently served as founding director of Murmur.
PacSun named Aina Konold as chief financial officer. She had been CFO of BowFlex.
Warner Bros. Discovery hired Shauna Spenley as global chief marketing officer of direct-to-consumer. Most recently, she was president of entertainment at Riot Games.
Wordsmith, an AI platform for in-house legal teams, appointed Lucy Tyrrell to general counsel. Most recently, she was head of legal (corporate) at FARFETCH.
ON MY RADAR
The enduring legacy of Kate Spade’s witty, misunderstood life Wall Street Journal
Women in Chad defy discrimination and violence to assert their rights to own and control land AP
Meet the trans actress who could make Oscar history New York Times
PARTING WORDS
“Our duty and purpose in the world is to help others, not to get a pat on the back for it.”
— Actress Nicole Kidman on philanthropic work
