Nvidia shares fell 8.6% in after-hours trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company’s board is preparing to remove Jensen Huang as CEO. The stock closed the regular session at $173.73 and slid to $158.76 by 7:59 p.m. Eastern, a drop of $14.97 a share, according to after-hours trading data.
Nvidia hasn’t announced anything. Huang is still CEO, and the company didn’t comment on the board meeting when Reuters asked, according to a Reuters report carried by The Korea Times. But investors aren’t waiting for a statement. They’re already pricing in an Nvidia without the man who co-founded it in 1993 and has run it for 33 years.
The Wall Street Journal report and a second affair claim hit Nvidia stock within minutes
Two stories landed back to back after Wednesday’s close. The New York Times reported that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who reports to him. The Times cited five people who worked at the company, and CNBC reports that the paper said the two were seen being affectionate at a San Jose hotel in March. Minutes later, the Journal reported that the board was getting ready to oust Huang and could meet as soon as Wednesday night.
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Reuters then reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, that the board was meeting late Wednesday to decide Huang’s future. Bloomberg reported that Nvidia has been working with an outside firm to identify possible replacements. Under Nvidia’s bylaws, a majority of its 11 directors can remove the CEO “with or without cause,” and every director except Huang is independent.
This comes four days after Huang admitted to a different affair. In a Sunday memo to staff, he wrote, “I was unfaithful to my wife,” after reports tied him to Alice Huang, an executive U.S. intelligence officials believe works for China’s Ministry of State Security. We covered his apology and the report that he could be fired as each story broke.
Nvidia stock has fallen 23% in seven trading sessions since November 3
The after-hours drop is the latest hit in a brutal stretch. Here’s how Nvidia’s daily closing price has moved, using the same price data:
| Date | Close | Daily change |
|---|---|---|
| November 3 | $206.69 | +2.29% |
| November 4 | $200.13 | -3.17% |
| November 5 | $181.60 | -9.26% |
| November 6 | $186.64 | +2.78% |
| November 9 | $178.67 | -4.27% |
| November 10 | $168.89 | -5.47% |
| November 11 | $173.73 | +2.87% |
| November 11, after hours | $158.76 | -8.62% |
If the after-hours price holds when regular trading opens, Nvidia will be down 23.2% from its November 3 close and 14.9% below where it closed on November 6, the last session before the board opened its investigation. Reuters says that would mean about $600 billion in market value lost since the probe began. Nvidia is valued at roughly $4 trillion.
Wednesday’s regular session made the drop sting more. Shares had climbed 2.87% during the day, their first gain after two straight losing sessions, before the reports wiped that out and more.
Nvidia’s board backed Huang on November 8, three days before the ouster report
The board’s own statement from November 8 opened an independent investigation after reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. A committee of independent directors runs it with outside counsel, and CNBC reports that the board hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. In that statement, the board said it had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia’s secrets were compromised, and it said it had confidence in Huang and his leadership team.
The pressure has grown from outside too. CBS News reports that President Trump said the FBI is looking into Huang’s ties to Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Singapore’s Megaspeed International, which bought nearly $5 billion in Nvidia AI chips and hardware. House Republicans asked Huang for a closed briefing, with a November 11 deadline to respond and a possible subpoena if he refused.
Colette Kress and Ian Buck are the names investors mention as possible successors
Nvidia has no obvious successor, and that’s the core of the sell-off. TechCrunch notes that Huang has about 60 direct reports and says he delegates very little. Portfolio manager Armina Rosenberg told Reuters that CFO Colette Kress, who has held the job for more than a decade, is the natural choice for interim CEO. Ian Buck, who runs the data center business, leads the prediction market odds for the permanent job.
Other chip stocks moved in after-hours trading as the news spread:
- AMD rose 4% and Broadcom rose 3%, as traders bet on rivals
- CoreWeave, which rents out Nvidia GPUs, fell 6%
- Micron fell nearly 2%, and Nasdaq futures dropped 1%
Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge called the news “obviously negative,” since Huang is arguably the most prominent executive at the most prominent company, CBS News reports. Not everyone is bearish on the business itself. Raymond James kept its Strong Buy rating, according to Yahoo Finance, and said the scandal likely doesn’t change Nvidia’s fundamentals.
Nvidia reports earnings November 17, with or without Huang in charge
The next fixed date is Nvidia’s quarterly report on November 17. If the board removes Huang before then, a new or interim CEO would face analysts within days of taking over. If he stays, the call will be his first public appearance since the allegations.
The slide also widens Apple’s lead at the top of the market. Apple passed Nvidia in market value on the day the iPhone Duo launched in October, and Apple stock closed at a record $350.69 on November 9. At about $5.1 trillion after that record, Apple now sits roughly $1 trillion ahead of Nvidia.
If you own Nvidia stock, watch for a board statement before Thursday’s open. Regular trading starts at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, and the after-hours price can move a lot on thin volume once official news arrives.
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