NVIDIA shares fall 14% at open after Huang resigns and Kress is named interim CEO
Key Facts
NVIDIA announced on November 12, 2026, that Jensen Huang had resigned as chairman, chief executive and a member of the board, effective immediately, and named chief financial officer and executive vice president Colette Kress interim chief executive. The announcement coincided with a 14% drop in the company's shares at the open, while the Nasdaq fell 1.5%, according to the Associated Press. Later in morning trading, the agency described the stock's decline following the resignation as 9.7%. The move does not isolate the effect of Huang's departure from other factors weighing on the shares, as coverage also linked the decline to the board's investigation and reports concerning Huang's relationship. The leadership transition leaves the company facing questions about how it will manage the next phase without its founder, even as the interim chief executive has been named.
The decline followed an earlier slide in the shares: they fell 27% from their record high in the previous month through Wednesday's close on November 11, according to AP. Even so, their performance over the previous four years remained exceptional: they rose 1,722% through the record high reached in October 2026, compared with a gain of about 109% for the S&P 500 over the same period. NVDA closed at $173.73 on November 11, before the resignation was announced the following day, according to EL7 data. These moves put the opening loss in the context of a correction already under way before the announcement, alongside concerns accompanying news of the leadership change. Trading in technology stocks also showed variation rather than a uniform wave of selling in the morning session.
By 9:35 a.m. Eastern time on November 12, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 15 points, or less than 0.1%, according to AP. Pressure on AI stocks had weighed on the Nasdaq at that point in the session, but differences within the sector were clear. CoreWeave fell 10.9% and Micron declined 3.1%, while Broadcom rose 5.2% and AMD gained 2%. The moves show that investors did not treat all semiconductor and AI infrastructure companies in the same way. Closing prices attributed to AMD and TSM on November 11 were not included in these facts, so they do not form the basis for comparison here.
Kress brings long experience in the sector to the interim role: she became NVIDIA's chief financial officer in 2013, after working for three years at Cisco and 13 years at Microsoft, according to AP. Kress said she was committed to "building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen has created over the past 33 years." Her remarks place the founder's long tenure at the center of the leadership transition, as she temporarily takes charge of the company in her roles as chief financial officer and executive vice president. The board also announced the appointment of Harvey C. Jones as the company's first chairman. The board launched an independent investigation following reports that Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence service, assigning oversight to a committee of independent directors assisted by independent outside legal counsel.
NVIDIA's board said it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets had been compromised, and that the investigation would examine the available information. The review comes as the company's leadership changes, with Kress remaining in an interim role following Huang's immediate departure. The company's next scheduled event is its fiscal 2027 third-quarter earnings call on November 17, at 2 p.m. Pacific time and 5 p.m. Eastern time. The fiscal quarter covered by the call ended on October 25, 2026. The upcoming results put the company's financial performance in focus days after the leadership transition, as the market watches the impact of the change on the company and sector stocks.