Nvidia Loses About $300 Billion as Huang Resigns and Shares Fall 4.3%

Key Facts

Nvidia announced on November 12 that Jensen Huang had resigned as CEO, chair and board member, effective immediately, in a leadership shift amid pressure on the company’s shares. The stock closed down 4.3% after falling about 14% at the open, according to The Associated Press. Reuters said the company had lost about $300 billion in market value since the board announced on Sunday that it had opened an investigation. The stock closed at $166.19 on November 12, according to EL7 data. The developments refocused investors on management continuity and the company’s performance ahead of its quarterly results announcement.

The company appointed CFO Colette Kress interim CEO and said she would remain in her finance role until a permanent successor is named. The board said it had begun searching for a permanent CEO and would consider candidates from inside and outside the company. Nvidia said Kress would continue executing the company’s strategy and product roadmap during the transition. It added that it expected operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without disruption. That pledge puts continuity of execution at the forefront of the next phase, while the company has not announced a date for naming a permanent CEO.

The Associated Press said The New York Times published a report on Wednesday about an alleged relationship between Huang and an Nvidia executive who reported to him. The agency added that it could not independently confirm those reports. The board announced on Sunday that it had opened an investigation into the allegations, and the company said it saw no reason to believe national security or its secrets had been compromised. The agency said the company had stated that the available information was still being examined. After Huang’s resignation, U.S. lawmakers continued to call for his questioning about his communications with Alice Huang and the company’s protocols for countering espionage, according to The Associated Press.

Pressure was not limited to Nvidia; shares of AI-linked chip, memory and storage companies fell in Thursday trading. CoreWeave dropped 6% after rising more than 27% in the previous session, while Micron fell 3.4%, Sandisk 5.1% and Western Digital 3.2%, according to Reuters. Some rivals moved in the opposite direction: AMD shares rose 1.7% and Broadcom gained 0.8%. Reuters linked their gains to expectations that turmoil at Nvidia could create an opportunity for rivals in AI chips. The session’s moves showed divergence within the sector rather than a uniform decline among AI-linked companies.

Nvidia’s volatility came as the broader market retreated from record levels. The Associated Press said the stock had fallen 30.5% since reaching a record on October 6, and that the decline was one of the main reasons the S&P 500 fell from its peak. The index closed 2.9% below its record, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 7% in the month through November 12. In Thursday’s session, the S&P 500 initially fell about 1%, then erased most of its losses to close down 0.4%; the Dow Jones and Nasdaq indexes each lost 0.4%. Nvidia, the agency said, was the biggest contributor to the S&P 500’s gains in 2025, with an effect more than twice that of the second-largest contributor, Alphabet.

Reuters had reported that Nvidia shares fell 7.8% in premarket trading on Thursday, threatening to push its market value below $4 trillion for the first time since July 2025. The agency also noted that the stock was valued at about 12 times estimates for earnings over the next twelve months, its lowest level since November 2012. The Associated Press, meanwhile, described investors as facing uncertainty over lawsuits and investigations, the possibility of internal competition, and the resilience of a market led by gains in a small number of major technology companies. An analyst cited by Reuters said Nvidia’s turmoil could have implications for newer cloud companies financing data centers through circular financing arrangements. The next date for investors to watch is November 17, when Nvidia is due to report results for the third quarter of fiscal 2027 at around 1:20 p.m. Pacific time, followed by an earnings call at 2 p.m.