By Thorsten Meyer | November 12, 2026 | ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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For 33 years, Nvidia had one chief executive. As of Thursday morning, it has an interim one.
Nvidia’s board announced on November 12 that Jensen Huang “has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately.” Colette Kress, the company’s chief financial officer since September 2013, becomes interim CEO and keeps her CFO job. Harvey C. Jones, a director since 1993, becomes the board’s “first-ever Chair.” The board is looking for a permanent CEO and “will consider internal and external candidates.”
The market’s first answer came before the opening bell: Nvidia shares traded 11.67% lower at $153.45 at 9:13 a.m. Eastern time, according to Nasdaq’s pre-market quote. Regular trading brought no relief: at 9:33 a.m., the stock was at $153.79, down 11.48%. That is about 36% below the record close of early October.
This article sorts what is confirmed, what the market did, what it means for the chip industry, for businesses that build on Nvidia and for ordinary investors, and what is still unknown. It is not investment advice.
Key takeaways
- Confirmed by Nvidia: Huang resigned as President, CEO and director, effective immediately. In its SEC filing, Nvidia says the board accepted the resignation on November 11. Neither the press release nor the filing gives a reason.
- Who leads now: CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO and remains CFO. Harvey C. Jones, former CEO and Executive Chairman of Synopsys, is the first Chair of the Board in Nvidia’s history.
- The stock: In pre-market trading, Nvidia fell 11.67% to $153.45 by 9:13 a.m. ET; shortly after the open, at 9:33 a.m., it was down 11.48% at $153.79 (Nasdaq). At that price, the drop since Wednesday’s close equals roughly $481 billion in market value, by our calculation with the share count from Nvidia’s latest 10-Q.
- The market: Nasdaq-100 futures fell 1.2% and S&P 500 futures 0.6%, CNBC reported. Chip stocks slipped in Asia and Europe before the announcement; shortly after the New York open, TSMC’s US shares, Micron and Intel were down between 2.7% and 4.1%, while Broadcom rose 3.44% (Nasdaq, 9:33 a.m. ET).
- What Nvidia promises: The new Chair says the board expects “operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.”
- Next test: Third-quarter results come on Tuesday, November 17, “as previously scheduled,” at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific time.
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What Nvidia announced
The announcement came in a short press release from the board, titled “NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition.” Its key sentences, quoted exactly:
“NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) Board of Directors announced today that Jensen Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately.”
“Colette Kress, current Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NVIDIA, has agreed to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer. Kress will continue to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer while serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer until a permanent successor has been named. The Board is initiating a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and will consider internal and external candidates.”
Nvidia also filed a Form 8-K with the SEC under Item 5.02, the item for departures and appointments of directors and officers. EDGAR shows it was accepted at 13:52 UTC, which is 8:52 a.m. Eastern time. The filing adds three details the press release does not contain: the board “accepted the resignation” on November 11, Kress is 59, and Jones, 73, “has served on the Board since 1993.” The filing is signed by Kress as “Interim Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.”
The board’s new Chair framed the message for customers and investors: “The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.” Kress said she is “committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years,” adding: “Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders.”
The release thanks Huang “for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.” It does not say why he resigned, whether he stays in any role, or what the board’s investigation has found. The resignation follows days of reports about the CEO’s personal conduct and a board investigation, which Nvidia announced on November 8 “in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.” At the time, the board said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.” What was reported and what was confirmed before today is sorted in our earlier piece, Nvidia’s Board, the Spy Probe and Trump: What Is Reported and What Is Confirmed.
The stock: a sharp drop before and after the opening bell
Nvidia closed at $173.73 on Wednesday, November 11, up 2.87% on the day, according to Nasdaq. The selling began after hours: CNBC reported that Nvidia’s US shares “fell 8.6% in after-hours trading Wednesday” and that its Frankfurt-listed shares were down 7.1% before the decision was public.
After the announcement, the decline deepened. Nasdaq’s pre-market quote showed $155.56, down 10.46%, at 9:06 a.m. ET, and $153.45, down 11.67%, at 9:13 a.m. ET. The pre-market low up to 9:05 a.m. was $154.02, reached at 8:54 a.m., two minutes after the 8-K was accepted. Regular trading started at 9:30 a.m.; at 9:33 a.m. ET, Nasdaq’s real-time quote showed $153.79, down 11.48% from Wednesday’s close.
Put in context, as of 9:33 a.m. ET (Nasdaq):
- From the record: Nvidia’s record close was $239.24 on October 6. At $153.79, the stock is 35.7% below that, by our calculation. Our earlier article on the slide, Nvidia Lost About $430 Billion in Two Days, covers the drivers before this week’s board decision.
- Market value: Nvidia’s last 10-Q lists 24.1 billion shares outstanding as of August 21, 2026. A drop of $19.94 per share, the move at 9:33 a.m., therefore equals about $481 billion. At $153.79, the whole company is worth roughly $3.7 trillion on that share count. Both figures are our own arithmetic and move with every trade.
- Analysts: Several brokerages lowered their ratings or estimates for Nvidia on Thursday, CNBC and Yahoo Finance reported. These are analysts’ views, not facts about the company’s value.
Why the reaction is so strong was summed up by Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon on CNBC: “Jensen is Nvidia, right? He is the visionary. The reason they’re in the position that they’re in today is because he made decisions 10 years ago.” Stifel analyst Ruben Roy put the focus on what comes next: “In our view, what matters for the stock from here is less whether a change occurs than how it is executed,” according to Yahoo Finance.
Nvidia has warned about this kind of risk itself. As Yahoo Finance noted, the company’s 2026 annual filing says: “Failure to ensure effective succession planning, transfer of knowledge, and smooth transitions involving executives and key employees,” it could “hinder our strategic planning, execution, and long-term success.”
The market: index futures, chip peers, Asia and Europe
Nvidia is one of the largest companies in US stock indexes, so its moves show up in funds that millions of people hold. How large its weight in index funds was before this week is in our earlier article on the stock slide.
- US indexes: Before the open, “Nasdaq-100 futures lost 1.2%, while S&P 500 futures fell 0.6%,” CNBC reported in its live blog. At 9:33 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq-100 fund QQQ was down 1.22% and the S&P 500 fund SPY down 0.65% (Nasdaq).
- Chip peers in New York (9:33 a.m. ET, Nasdaq): TSMC’s US-listed shares were down 2.73%, Micron 3.57%, Intel 4.10%, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) 2.73%. Broadcom was up 3.44% and AMD 0.95%. In pre-market trading, CNBC had reported that investors moved into AMD and Broadcom, with both up around 2% to 3%.
- Asia (before the announcement): Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.70% and South Korea’s Kospi 0.61%, CNBC reported. “Major tech names part of the Nvidia supply chain in Asia, including South Korea’s SK Hynix, Taiwan’s TSMC, Japan’s Advantest fell as Nvidia board meets to decide Jensen Huang’s fate,” CNBC wrote.
- Europe (morning, before the announcement): The Stoxx 600 Technology index was down 1.3% while the broader Stoxx 600 rose 0.3% shortly after the open, according to CNBC. ASML lost 3% and Infineon 3.8%.
Not every move on Thursday is about Nvidia. CNBC’s live blog also cites rising oil prices and “underwhelming guidance” at the cloud company Nebius as pressure on markets the same morning.
What it means for AI chips and the supply chain
The board’s message is continuity: “operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.” Several analysts make a similar point about the business, at least in the near term.
Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, argues that Nvidia’s Blackwell demand, Rubin roadmap, networking expansion and CUDA ecosystem were firmly established well before the controversy, according to TrendForce, which cites Reuters. In his view, these foundations could help sustain revenue momentum over the next 12 to 18 months even if Huang departs.
The supply chain in Taiwan was watching even before Thursday. TrendForce, citing Taiwan’s Commercial Times, reported on November 10 that some AI server orders from Asian customers were facing renewed reviews, but “industry sources say orders and production capacity remain unchanged for now.” According to the same TrendForce report, Economic Daily News found that Taiwanese suppliers of Nvidia server chassis, racks and cooling systems “have seen no disruptions to orders or shipments.” TrendForce also says Taiwanese server makers have shifted their focus to B300, GB300 and the Vera Rubin platform, which is “gradually entering mass production and delivery.”
China is the open flank. Saxo’s chief investment strategist Charu Chanana warned that a leadership shake-up could raise questions about the chipmaker’s China plans and whether a successor would uphold Huang’s broader vision, according to TrendForce’s summary of Reuters reporting. TrendForce also cites a Reuters report that about 600,000 H200 chips are held in Hong Kong pending Beijing’s approval for large-scale imports. How a new leadership team will handle export controls and China sales is not known.
Who could lead Nvidia next? Nvidia has not named any candidates. Media reports have mentioned several people, all clearly as speculation: CFO Colette Kress and Ian Buck, who heads Nvidia’s hyperscale and high-performance computing business and is described by TrendForce as a “key architect of CUDA,” as internal options, according to TrendForce, citing Business Insider. Arm CEO Rene Haas and AMD CEO Lisa Su were named as outside possibilities by the Korean outlet Chosun Biz, citing The Information. In the sources we reviewed, none of the people named has said publicly that they are a candidate for the permanent job. TrendForce also noted that Huang’s structure of “roughly 60 direct reports” makes replacing him “particularly challenging.”
What it means for businesses
For companies that buy Nvidia hardware or rent it through cloud providers, nothing changes today on paper. Contracts are with Nvidia, not with its CEO, and the board says customer commitments continue “without interruption.” Practical points:
- Supply and delivery: No source we reviewed reports a change to Nvidia’s delivery schedules. Taiwanese suppliers reported no disruptions as of November 10, according to TrendForce.
- Pricing: Nvidia has said nothing about prices. Any claim that GPU prices will rise or fall because of the CEO change is speculation.
- Roadmaps: Plans built on Nvidia’s next platforms depend on the product roadmap, which the board says continues. The first chance to hear this from management under the interim CEO is the earnings call on November 17.
- Diversification: On November 10, TrendForce ran a report headlined “NVIDIA Order Cuts Reportedly Loom Amid Huang Controversy; AMD, ASIC Rivals May Gain TSMC Capacity.” It describes possibilities, not confirmed order changes, and says industry sources see orders and capacity “unchanged for now.”
What it means for ordinary investors and index savers
If you hold broad index funds, you very likely own some Nvidia. When one of the largest holdings moves by double digits, those funds feel it. A single day’s move says little about what happens next, though. Yahoo Finance looked at six large companies whose chief executives left under pressure, from Boeing in 2005 to McDonald’s in 2019. “First-day reactions ranged from a drop of about 8% to a gain of nearly 9%,” it found, while cautioning that the “sample is small” and has “no founder of a $5 trillion company.”
This article does not say whether the stock is cheap or expensive, and it makes no forecast. For decisions about your own money, talk to a licensed adviser.
What is not known
- Why Huang resigned. The release and the 8-K do not give a reason.
- His future role. Nvidia does not say whether he keeps any role at the company or what happens to his compensation.
- The investigation. The board’s findings are not public, and Nvidia has not said whether the inquiry continues.
- The successor. There is no timeline for the search and no named candidate.
- The quarter. Nvidia’s results and outlook arrive on November 17. Until then, there is no new company data on demand.
- Today’s close. Prices in this article are quotes from Thursday morning, up to 9:33 a.m. Eastern time. The rest of the session can move sharply in either direction.
The bottom line
Nvidia’s founder-CEO is gone, effective immediately, and its CFO is running the company while the board searches for a successor. What can be checked today is the board’s release, the SEC filing and the market’s first reaction: a double-digit drop that held after the opening bell, weaker chip stocks and lower index funds. The board promises an uninterrupted roadmap. The first real test of that promise comes on November 17.
Sources
- NVIDIA Newsroom: “NVIDIA Announces CEO Transition”, November 12, 2026
- NVIDIA Corporation: Form 8-K, Item 5.02, date of report November 11, 2026, filed November 12, 2026 (SEC EDGAR, accession 0001045810-26-000082)
- NVIDIA Newsroom: “Statement From NVIDIA Board of Directors”, November 8, 2026
- NVIDIA Corporation: Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 26, 2026 (shares outstanding as of August 21, 2026), SEC EDGAR
- Nasdaq: NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) historical quotes through November 11, 2026, and real-time quotes for NVDA, AMD, AVGO, TSM, MU, INTC, QQQ, SPY and SOXX, retrieved November 12, 2026, 14:06, 14:13 and 14:33 UTC
- CNBC: “Nvidia stock falls 10% as CEO Jensen Huang announces resignation”, November 12, 2026
- CNBC: “Stock market today: Live updates”, live blog for November 12, 2026
- Yahoo Finance: “Nvidia live updates: Jensen Huang resigns, CFO Colette Kress to serve as interim CEO”, November 12, 2026
- TrendForce: “Replacing the Irreplaceable: NVIDIA’s Next Moves as CEO Jensen Huang Faces Potential Ouster”, November 12, 2026 (citing Reuters, Business Insider, Chosun Biz, The Information and others)
- TrendForce: “NVIDIA Order Cuts Reportedly Loom Amid Huang Controversy; AMD, ASIC Rivals May Gain TSMC Capacity”, November 10, 2026 (citing Commercial Times, Economic Daily News, Central News Agency and Reuters)
Researched and drafted with AI assistance, including Anthropic’s Claude. No company named here reviewed or sponsored this article. This article is for information only. It is not investment, legal or tax advice and contains no buy or sell recommendation. Share prices are Nasdaq quotes retrieved on November 12, 2026, at the times stated; percentage changes from the record and market-value figures are own calculations using the share count in Nvidia’s latest 10-Q. Images: AI-generated illustration (Runware) and graphics by Thorsten Meyer AI; no real people or logos are shown.
