Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Resigns; CFO Colette Kress Named Interim Chief

Nvidia said its board of directors announced on Nov. 12 that Jensen Huang resigned as president, chief executive and a board member, effective immediately. Executive vice president and chief financial officer Colette Kress was appointed interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor.

Kress has served as Nvidia's CFO since joining the company in September 2013 and previously spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at technology companies including Cisco and Microsoft, according to Nvidia's announcement. The board also named Harvey C. Jones, a technology executive and venture investor who was CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys, as its first-ever chair.

"Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position," Jones said. "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."

Market fallout

The departure of the executive most associated with the AI investment boom rattled investors. The Guardian reported that Nvidia shares plunged 13% when Wall Street opened after the announcement, then closed down 4.3% on Thursday, wiping more than $180bn off the company's value in a single day and about $490bn over the week. Nvidia's market value stood at roughly $4tn.

The board's statement did not mention the personal-conduct allegations that preceded the resignation, instead praising Huang's "immeasurable contributions" to the company he co-founded. Nvidia had hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate a relationship with a customer, and the board met late on Wednesday before announcing the transition.

Broader markets also wobbled. Yahoo Finance reported that the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq each slipped about 0.4% on Thursday, while the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield climbed above 5% as investors weighed renewed inflation concerns and the odds of further Federal Reserve rate hikes. Nvidia stock fell about 4%.

The upheaval adds pressure ahead of Nvidia's third-quarter fiscal 2027 results, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 17. The turmoil also lands against a volatile backdrop for AI-linked equities: an earlier selloff in early November erased more than $3.2tn from the US stock market as the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 5.5% in a single session, The Guardian reported.