Datavault AI Removes CEO; Shares Fall 14.49% in November 5 Session
Key Facts
Datavault AI’s board removed Nathaniel Bradley as CEO and president and ended his employment with the company effective November 1, 2026, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The decision came as the company faces a reassessment of financial data for prior periods, while its shares fell in the November 5 session. The stock closed at $0.0592, compared with $0.069 in the previous session, according to EL7 data. All board members except Bradley voted in favor of the decision, while he voted against it. The filing did not state a reason for the removal or name a successor.
Bradley’s ties to the company did not end with his departure from executive management; the filing said he remains a member of the board. The company’s report said the decision was made on November 1, while Chief Financial Officer Brett Moyer signed the filing on November 5. The document thus specifies the effective date of Bradley’s departure and the date the filing was documented, without giving an explanation for the decision. The report also did not name a new CEO. The filing announced no other changes to executive roles.
The management change coincides with a crisis in the reliability of the company’s financial statements, but the filing on Bradley’s removal does not link the two. The company had said its unaudited financial statements for periods from the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2025, through the quarter and first half ended June 30, 2026, should no longer be relied upon. The correction concerns a stock purchase agreement the company entered into with Scilex in September 2025. The agreement provided for the purchase of 15 million common shares and a pre-funded warrant to purchase 263,914,094 shares, for $150 million payable in Bitcoin. The company reported preliminary estimates of reductions in total assets that vary by measurement date.
The company estimated asset reductions of about $8.1 million as of September 30, 2025, and $92.2 million as of December 31 of the same year, followed by $57.1 million as of March 31, 2026, and $49 million as of June 30, 2026. These estimates show that the expected impact differs from period to period and is not a single figure applied to all statement dates. The company linked the reassessment to the accounting treatment of the agreement, which was valued at $150 million payable in Bitcoin. These figures, described as preliminary estimates, do not explain the board’s decision regarding Bradley. The removal filing also does not say whether the leadership change will affect the process of reissuing the statements.
The first-half 2026 figures point to parallel financial pressures. Company data as of June 30, 2026, showed $1.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, alongside crypto assets valued at $49 million. Net cash used in operations during the six months ended on the same date was $80 million. The company said in its financial filing that it would need to raise additional financing during the twelve months following the issuance of the statements. It added that substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern had not been alleviated. These disclosures place financing and liquidity needs in the background of the management change, without attributing a cause or outcome to it.
In trading, the stock fell 14.49% in the November 5 session, according to a Benzinga report, consistent with EL7’s lower close than on November 4. The same report then noted a 13.18% gain in premarket trading on Friday, November 6, to $0.06. That subsequent move came after the session in which the stock closed at $0.0592 and does not change the November 5 trading result. The company’s previously announced annual revenue target was at least $200 million for 2026, which it described as approximately 400% year-over-year growth. In the second quarter of 2026, revenue was $6.7 million, compared with $1.7 million in the corresponding period of 2025, an increase of 287%, according to results filed by the company with the SEC.