NVIDIA said on Nov 12 that co-founder Jensen Huang has stepped down as president, chief executive and board member, effective immediately. According to CCTV News, the board appointed Colette Kress, currently executive vice president and CFO, as interim CEO while she continues her finance duties; the search for a permanent successor is under way, weighing internal and external candidates.
Investors reacted with a sell-off. NVIDIA shares fell about 10% in pre-market trading, dropped as much as 14% at the open and later pared losses to around 7%, pushing market value below $4 trillion. The board also named Harvey C. Jones as the company's first board chair, an attempt to steady governance after the founder's exit.
Huang co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and ran it for 33 years. Since the 1999 IPO the stock has gained roughly 477,000%, with a near five-fold rise over the past five years; Huang's personal fortune stands at about $141.7 billion, and his roughly 3.61% stake makes him the fourth-largest individual shareholder. The board's remaining 10 seats are all independent directors, and the company never had a clear succession plan, so the "key-person risk" has now been cashed in.
The immediate trigger was personal scandal. Multiple outlets reported that Huang had an extramarital affair with an executive who reported to him, and days of headlines eroded investor confidence in governance and reputation. Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter, said some Chinese AI companies are rushing to lease NVIDIA capacity in overseas data centers, fearing Washington may use the episode to tighten restrictions on remote access to advanced chips.
Kress joined NVIDIA in 2013 and has served as CFO for 13 years, a familiar voice alongside Huang on every earnings call. On prediction markets, Ian Buck, who helped create CUDA, is rated the most likely internal candidate. For a company built around one founder's authority, the leadership change starts a repricing of risk, and until a permanent CEO is named, customers and suppliers will plan for the worst.