Nvidia live updates: Jensen Huang resigns as CEO after affair allegations, risking broader fallout Yahoo Finance Updated Thu, November 12, 2026 at 2:42 PM EST 1 min read NVDA -5.85% Trade NVIDIA on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Nvidia (NVDA) stock tanked Thursday after Jensen Huang resigned as CEO. The company's CFO, Colette Kress, will serve as the interim head of the business until a permanent successor is named.
Nvidia stock dropped 13% on the news before paring losses.
The leadership shakeup followed a report from The New York Times on Wednesday that embattled Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang was allegedly involved in a second extramarital affair. The company's board was reportedly meeting on Wednesday night to determine if it will oust Huang as chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the report, Huang, whose relationship with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy has embroiled the company in scandal this week, also had a relationship with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell.
Follow along for live updates and reactions.
Reuters is reporting that Jensen Huang had a third affair with a second Nvidia (NVDA) employee, according to two sources.
The report did not name the woman or her role at the company, and Reuters said it was unable to reach her for comment. Nvidia also declined to comment.
This latest revelation follows allegations that Huang had an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive who is believed to be a Chinese intelligence asset, and Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia executive who reported directly to Huang.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering firing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick amid reports that Lutnick received a classified memo warning him about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang.
Scrutiny of AI chip giant Nvidia could widen amid multiple US Justice Department investigations that could ensnare the company, according to a report from Semafor.
One of the probes is focused directly on Nvidia and examines potential antitrust violations, according to two administration officials cited by Semafor. Two other investigations involve Singapore-based tech company Megaspeed and AI server maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI).
The latest scrutiny comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned on Thursday following reports of two affairs. One of them was with Alice Huang, an alleged Chinese spy and former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI infrastructure procurement company. Renewed scrutiny of the company has followed revelations about the relationship.
Separately, Super Micro has also faced scrutiny over the alleged diversion of AI servers containing Nvidia chips to China.
Last month, Reuters reported that a contractor linked to the company pleaded guilty to charges related to the illegal export of servers containing advanced Nvidia chips to China. Super Micro itself was not charged in that case. On Thursday, shares of the server maker packed with Nvidia chips plunged 12%.
Nvidia has only a few months to scout out a new CEO, if you ask Unconventional AI founder and CEO Naveen Rao.
"I actually think it's pretty urgent, and I would say it needs to be closed probably in the next three or four months," Rao said about Nvidia's CEO search after Jensen Huang stepped down. CFO Colette Kress is serving as the company's head on an interim basis until a permanent successor to Huang is determined.
Rao explained that the urgency is due to Nvidia's norms around its hardware roadmap, which has allowed the company to gain a competitive advantage.
"Nvidia is famous for making quick changes to the roadmap," Rao said. "The V3 V100, where they got the Tensor cores, that was a very famous quick change. So I think someone has to be able to make those calls in real time, and this is not something you can you can leave out for six plus months. This needs to be closed pretty soon."
He also pointed out that Huang helped attract Nvidia's strong talent base, and any delay in picking a new leader could erode employees' confidence in the company.
Wall Street analysts reacted with temporary relief on Thursday as Nvidia (NVDA) announced that CFO Colette Kress would serve as interim CEO after Jensen Huang resigned following reports of affairs with a suspected Chinese spy and an Nvidia executive.
Kress, who has served as Nvidia CFO, is seen as a steady hand amid the turmoil at the company.
Wall Street watchers say that, in the near future, Nvidia will be the revenue monster it's been since the start of the AI race, thanks to its existing product roadmap.
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh wrote in a note to investors that Kress's appointment as interim CEO is constructive "given her tenure as CFO since 2013 and deep institutional knowledge of Nvidia's business and strategy."
But Huang, who led the company as a singular figure with dozens of direct reports, leaves a void that clouds Nvidia's long-term outlook.
As a result, several analysts lowered their price targets and ratings on the company's stock.
Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon, who reduced his price target from $400 to $200 and lowered his rating from Outperform to Market-Perform, wrote in an investor note that Kress's appointment is a positive for the company.
"We aren't really worried about near-term impacts to the business as a result of the events of the past week, and of course the shares screen extremely cheap," he said.
But Rasgon raised concerns about a new CEO's ability to maneuver Nvidia's product pipeline, customer relationships, and more.
"We see considerable uncertainty around further newsflow that is probably going to be coming down the pipe, as well as the ability of any new CEO to truly fill Jensen's shoes given how tightly he managed the direction of the business and its relationships with customers, suppliers, employees, and the broader industry ecosystem," he wrote. Read more.
Major US stock indexes moved higher Thursday, paring earlier losses sparked in part by the sudden departure of Nvidia co-founder and longtime CEO Jensen Huang.
As investors grapple with what Huang's exit could mean for the artificial intelligence trade, one Wall Street veteran offered some historical perspective.
"Sad about Jensen. Shakespearean. But as [Charles] de Gaulle said, 'The graveyards are filled with indispensable men'," former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein posted on X Thursday.
Huang's departure has raised questions extending well beyond the chipmaker, including what Nvidia's turmoil could mean for the many AI firms it has backed.
Jensen Huang's ouster from the top of Nvidia (NVDA), the world's leading chipmaker, could portend a broader shift in Washington over China's access to Silicon Valley's most advanced chips.
Though concerns around China's ambitions to catch up to US progress on AI have long existed on the Hill, those worries were blown into much wider focus last week after the New York Times reported that Huang had an affair with a Chinese national named Alice Huang, who the US intelligence service reportedly believes has committed espionage on behalf of Beijing.
Huang will soon face questions in Washington about his company's approach to AI. Representative Brian Mast (R-Fla.) told reporters in a briefing on Thursday that the former Nvidia CEO has agreed to appear before Congress after Mast and fellow Representatives John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) sent a letter to Huang last week requesting his presence at a closed-door hearing on the Hill. Read more.
Nvidia (NVDA) planned to host its GTC developer conference in Washington, D.C., from Dec. 1 through Dec. 3, with former CEO Jensen Huang hosting a keynote on Dec. 1.
The event is still listed on Nvidia's website, complete with a link announcing Huang's keynote at 2 p.m. ET.
With Huang now out at the company, it's unclear whether the event will move forward and, if it does, who would host the keynote.
Huang was known for his stylish keynotes complete with massive stage props illustrating Nvidia's various hardware and software offerings.
The events evolved to take on an almost festival-like atmosphere as Nvidia's profile rose, with the company taking over a park near its marquee conference in San Jose, Calif., for a faux night market.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast told reporters that ousted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has agreed to testify before Congress ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Mast said Huang responded last night after being threatened with a subpoena. "Jensen and I have been very at odds as some of you already know on export controls, but Nvidia is a very important company to the United States of America," Mast said, according to Bloomberg. Mast said the testimony will likely be under oath, transcribed, and on video.
Financial and tech industry voices are trying to read the tea leaves in the wake of Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang's resignation on Thursday.
"I think the market can survive without positive results from Nvidia in the short term," said Liz Thomas, SoFi's chief market strategist during Yahoo Finance Invest. "It does bring into question what we've been talking about for the last, better part of the last year, which is a lot of these circular relationships."
Nvidia stock fell more than 13% in early trading Thursday before paring some of those losses following the news that Jensen Huang had resigned as CEO and CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO. Read more.
President Trump offered his first reaction Thursday to the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang by saying that former Apple CEO Tim Cook should take over, calling him "the only one man to take his place."
"A Legend replaces a Legend!," the president added on Truth Social, which also praised the ousted Huang as having "done a fantastic job."
The post did little to answer questions about whether Huang's affair with a suspected Chinese spy endangered US national security and came as Trump also appeared to stand by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has found himself under fire as part of the growing scandal.
White House officials told various outlets on Thursday morning that Trump maintains complete confidence in Lutnick.
Jensen Huang didn't just sell the AI boom its chips. He bankrolled a good chunk of it too. Now that he's out as Nvidia's (NVDA) CEO, Wall Street is going through the tab line by line.
Nvidia owns pieces of Intel (INTC), SpaceX (SPCX), and CoreWeave (CRWV). It's pledged up to $10 billion to Anthropic and has a preliminary deal to put as much as $100 billion into OpenAI. Add it all up, and its latest filing lists about $530 billion in commitments and guarantees, by Yahoo Finance's count.
Neoclouds like CoreWeave and Nebius (NBIS), which rent out Nvidia chips and lean on Nvidia's backing, are getting hit hardest. Rivals Broadcom (AVGO) and AMD (AMD) are catching a bid, and most of Big Tech is shrugging it off.
Interim CEO Colette Kress — the CFO who signed off on many of these deals — now decides how many more checks to write. Watch whether she stands behind them when Nvidia reports Tuesday.
In a note to clients, Bernstein analysts reacted to the departure of longtime Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the appointment of CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO.
"So what now? On the positive Colette should be able to keep things running for now and we aren't really worried about near-term impacts to the business as a result of the events of the past week, and of course the shares screen extremely cheap. That being said, we see considerable uncertainty around further newsflow that is probably going to be coming down the pipe, as well as the ability of any new CEO to truly fill Jensen's shoes given how tightly he managed the direction of the business and its relationships with customers, suppliers, employees, and the broader industry ecosystem.
The uncertainty proved too much for us; we moved to the sidelines on the stock last night as a result (more of our broader thoughts can be found in that note). Nothing would give us more pleasure than being able to revisit the story at some point, but we are having a hard time advocating stepping in here. We rate NVDA Market Perform with a $200 PT."
Nvidia (NVDA) CFO Colette Kress has been named interim CEO after Jensen Huang stepped down amid allegations of an affair with a Chinese spy and a company executive.
Kress, one of Nvidia's more prominent executives, joined the company in 2013 and helped guide the company's financial success from a video game company to the AI juggernaut it is today.
In a statement, Kress said she is committed to building on the work Jensen has done to turn Nvidia into the company it has become.
"We will continue advancing the work that has made Nvidia a leader in accelerated computing and AI, and execute on the opportunities ahead. Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders," she said.
Kress regularly provides financial updates during Nvidia's quarterly earnings call, making her well known among analysts and investors.
Prior to joining the company, she served as the senior vice president and CFO for Cisco's (CSCO) Business Technology and Operations Finance group, according to her Nvidia biography.
Before joining Cisco, she held positions at Microsoft (MSFT) for 13 years, including as CFO of the company's server and tools group. She also worked at Texas Instruments (TXN) in several roles. Read more.
Interim Nvidia CEO Colette Kress told Nvidia staffers that she believes "deeply in the company" and that "NVIDIANs" are the company's "greatest strength"
Here's a look at some of the Nvidia board members tasked with ousting longtime CEO Jensen Huang, from Bloomberg:
Harvey C. Jones joined Nvidia's board in 1993, while serving as CEO of chip-design software maker Synopsys Inc. Since 2004, he has been a managing partner at private investment firm Square Wave Ventures. Last year, Nvidia bought a $2 billion stake in Synopsys.
Stephen Neal joined the Nvidia board in 2019. He is chairman emeritus and senior counsel at Cooley LLP, Nvidia's long-time law firm.
VC Tench Coxe has been on the Nvidia board since 1993. He was a managing director at Palo Alto-based Sutter Hill Ventures from 1989 to 2020, and was an early investor in Nvidia.
John Dabiri has been on Nvidia's board since 2020. He is a professor of aeronautics and mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology.
Dawn Hudson, a board member since 2013, was previously chief marketing officer of the National Football League and, before that, CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America.
Melissa Lora joined in 2023. Before that, she was president of Taco Bell International.
A. Brooke Seawell joined the board in 1997. He is a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates and was an executive at NetDynamics Inc. He also previously worked at Synopsys.
Aarti Shah has been on the board since 2020. She was formerly senior vice president and chief information and digital officer at Eli Lilly.
Mark Stevens, an early investor in Nvidia, served on its board from 1993-2006 and rejoined in 2008. He was managing partner at Sequoia Capital and is managing partner at S-Cubed Capital.
Suzanne Nora Johnson joined the board in July. She spent 21 years at Goldman Sachs Group, where she was vice chair.
The resignation of Jensen Huang as Nvidia CEO marks the end of an era for one of the longest-serving corporate leaders.
Huang, who is 63, co-founded Nvidia in April 1993, alongside Curtis Priem and Chris Malachowsky, who still serves as senior vice president for engineering and operations.
In total, Huang's tenure as CEO lasted 33 years. That made Huang the third-longest-serving CEO of an S&P 500 company until he stepped down today.
Huang's tenure was up there with that of Stephen Schwarzman, who has led private equity firm Blackstone (BX) for about 41 years, and Leonard Schleifer, CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) for 38 years.
Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi, Julie Hyman, and Deirdre Bosa discuss the fallout from the Nvidia scandal and the subsequent ouster of longtime CEO Jensen Huang.
In a note to clients, Dan Ives, Senior Managing Director Yorkville Ives, said there is a good chance Nvidia's board looks to the outside for a CEO, "and this could include a host of names, including Apple's Tim Cook as a dark horse candidate in our view given the global importance of Nvidia to the overall US tech industry."
He also praised Nvidia's interim CEO, Colette Kress. As CFO, Kress "has built enormous credibility internally and externally and we are big fans of her strategically. We always believed she would eventually be CEO of a major public tech company, but she would have to leave Nvidia after many years there."
The tech analyst predicts the Jensen Huang scandal won't hurt the company in the long run.
"Nvidia remains the clear leader in GPU chips for the AI Revolution. They are roughly 2-3 years ahead of the nearest competitor and the demand trajectory the next few years is not changing because Jensen is gone. The strategic roadmap is already essentially built around the next few family of chips and physical AI with 42k employees driving it. We assume clear headwinds/scrutiny on the China business and any loopholes (Singapore) which is a dynamic already being factored into the stock at current valuation in our view.
Valuation at roughly 10x 28 EPS is way too cheap once Nvidia gets through this storm and emerges on the other side. The $3 trillion to $4 trillion of AI capex is not changing and Nvidia remains the one chip in the world fueling the AI Revolution."
Nvidia (NVDA) stock dropped as much as 13% in the first few minutes of trading, on track to destroy roughly $440 billion in value, after CEO Jensen Huang resigned.
Nvidia's market cap dropped to $3.75 trillion. At one point, Nvidia was a $5 trillion company and the largest company in the world. On Thursday, the company slipped to No. 3 by market cap, falling behind Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT).
