Jensen Huang Resigns as Nvidia CEO, Effective Immediately

Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia's president, chief executive and board member, effective immediately, the company announced Thursday.

CFO Colette Kress serves as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor, and director Harvey Jones becomes the board's first chair. The announcement gives no reason for the resignation and carries no statement from Huang.

The board accepted the resignation on Wednesday, November 11, according to the company's 8-K filing, and announced it Thursday morning. Kress, 59, has been Nvidia's chief financial officer since 2013 and keeps that job while she serves as interim chief executive. The board's search will consider internal and external candidates, with no timeline given. Jones, 73, a director since 1993 and a former Synopsys chief executive, is the first person to hold the chair's title. "We expect the company's operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption," Jones said. Kress said she's committed to "building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years."

The market didn't wait for more detail. Nvidia shares fell more than 10% in premarket trading, Reuters reported, and were down 12.2% by 9:16 a.m. ET. That's on top of a separate drop of about 8% in after-hours trading Wednesday, when the Wall Street Journal reported the board was preparing to oust him, and a slide of more than 20% over the past month. Nvidia's third-quarter results land Tuesday, November 17, with Kress now presenting them.

The announcement doesn't connect the resignation to the week that preceded it, and it doesn't mention the board's investigation at all. On November 8, Huang apologized to employees for infidelity, and the board announced an independent investigation after reporting that he'd been the target of a foreign intelligence effort, saying it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised. On November 10, the independent directors retained outside counsel to run it. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported a second affair and the Journal reported the board preparing an ouster; Senator Kevin Cramer had already called on Huang to resign. The company hasn't said whether the investigation continues, and no severance arrangement is disclosed in the filing.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and was its only chief executive for 33 years. He's 63 and holds about 3.61% of the company, its fourth-largest position. Nvidia's revenue was $215.9 billion in fiscal 2026, and its market value peaked above $5.5 trillion earlier this year; Reuters now puts it at $4 trillion after this week's falls. "The task is daunting, as NVIDIA has been founder-led since inception," said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria. Capital.com's Daniela Hathorn called Huang "the front man of AI," and said the exit adds jitters ahead of earnings.