Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia’s chief executive after 33 years, the company announced Thursday morning, Nov. 12. Its board said he has left as president, CEO and a member of the board, “effective immediately.” Chief financial officer Colette Kress becomes interim CEO while keeping her finance job. The board will search inside and outside the company for a permanent successor.
It comes 14 days after a New York Times report on Oct. 29 set off the crisis. It also leaves Nvidia with a finance chief at the top five days before quarterly results. Nvidia shares opened 13% lower and had recovered part of the loss by late morning.
What Nvidia’s filing says, and what it leaves out
Nvidia filed a Form 8-K with the SEC at 8:52 a.m. ET, according to EDGAR’s timestamp. It says the board “accepted the resignation” on Nov. 11. That was the same evening Reuters, citing the Wall Street Journal, reported that the board was preparing to oust him.
The press release followed on Nvidia’s newsroom. It names Harvey C. Jones, a director since 1993 and a former Synopsys CEO, as the company’s “first-ever Chair of the Board.” Until now, Nvidia had a lead independent director instead of a chair.
Several things are missing from both documents. Neither gives a reason for the resignation, and the release carries no statement from Huang. Neither says he will stay on as an employee or adviser.
The 8-K describes no severance, consulting deal or change to his equity awards. Item 5.02, the section it was filed under, also covers officers’ pay arrangements.
Jones gets the main quote. “The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team,” he said. He expects operations, customer commitments and the product road map to “continue without interruption.” The release thanks Huang for “immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.”
Kress, 59, has been CFO since September 2013, the release says. Before that she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at Cisco, Microsoft and other companies. Our profile of Colette Kress covers her career.
Fourteen days from the first report to the resignation
We built this timeline from Nvidia’s statements and filings, the reporting linked in each row, and Yahoo Finance price data. Times are Eastern.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 29 | The Times reports that US intelligence monitored a person close to Huang over Chinese intelligence concerns. Nvidia calls his customer contacts routine. | CNBC |
| Nov. 4 | Three House committee chairs, including Rep. Brian Mast, ask Huang for a closed-door briefing on Nov. 18. | House letter |
| Nov. 5 | Shares close at $181.60, down 9.3%. | Yahoo Finance data |
| Nov. 8 | The board opens an independent investigation. Huang tells staff he will “cooperate fully.” | Board statement; Huang memo |
| Nov. 10 | Independent directors hire Joon H. Kim and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. | Nvidia; NBC News |
| Nov. 11, after the close | Reuters relays the Journal’s report that the board is preparing to oust Huang. The board accepts his resignation that day. | Reuters via Yahoo Finance; 8-K |
| Nov. 12, 8:52 a.m. | Nvidia files the 8-K, then publishes the release. | SEC EDGAR |
| Nov. 12, 9:30 a.m. | Shares open at $150.99, down 13.1%, and touch $148.80. | Yahoo Finance data |
| Nov. 12, 11:30 a.m. | Shares trade at $165.04, down 5.0%. | Yahoo Finance data |
Shares fell 14% at the open, then won back two-thirds
Wednesday’s close of $173.73 is the baseline. Premarket trading was already lower after the Journal report, near $159 by 8:40 a.m., Yahoo Finance data show. It slid to about $151 before the bell.
The low of $148.80 came in the first five minutes, 14.3% below Wednesday’s close by our arithmetic. Nvidia’s market value dropped below $4 trillion at the open, Yahoo Finance reported. By 11:30 a.m., the stock had recovered to $165.04.
Measured from the Oct. 28 close of $215.38, the day before the first report, that is a 23.4% fall. Nvidia reported 24.1 billion shares outstanding in August. On that count, the drop comes to roughly $1.2 trillion.
Analysts moved targets down, not out. Baird cut its target to $200 from $500 and downgraded the stock to neutral, citing “uncertainties regarding U.S. government action,” CNBC reported. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. told CNBC that Kress is “the one” to “steady the ship.” Longer term, he said, the CEO is “probably someone from the outside.”
What the resignation leaves open
The resignation does not close the board’s investigation, at least on paper. Neither the release nor the 8-K mentions it. Nvidia has not said whether Joon H. Kim and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, hired by the independent directors on Nov. 10, will finish or publish findings.
Our guide to Nvidia’s board explains who sits on the independent committee.
The Times also reported Nov. 11 that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, a senior Nvidia executive, Yahoo Finance said. Nvidia declined to comment on that report.
Lawmakers are not done either. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the decision “does not absolve him, other executives, or the company as a whole of responsibility,” CNBC reported. President Trump posted on Truth Social that Apple’s Tim Cook should take the job, CNBC said.
For how the board got here, see our explainer on the Jensen Huang probe and our look at Nvidia’s executive bench.
Kress faces Wall Street first, then Huang faces Congress
Kress’s first public test comes Tuesday, Nov. 17. Nvidia will report third-quarter results at about 1:20 p.m. PT and hold its call at 2 p.m. PT, or 5 p.m. ET, “as previously scheduled,” the release says.
Washington comes next for Huang. He “has agreed to come” and testify before Thanksgiving, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast said, according to CNBC. The holiday falls on Nov. 26.
Mast said the session would likely be under oath and transcribed, and that he would “subpoena him” if needed.
The date is still being negotiated. Mast said, according to CNBC: “We want to see him basically in a week.”