Nvidia will report its third-quarter results on November 17 without the man who led it for 33 years. Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately, according to the Nvidia board’s CEO transition announcement on November 12.
Chief financial officer Colette Kress is now interim CEO. She will also stay on as CFO until the board names a permanent successor. The board says it will consider both internal and external candidates.
The board also created a new post. Director Harvey C. Jones becomes Nvidia’s first-ever Chair of the Board. The announcement gives no reason for Huang’s exit. It comes after two weeks of reports about his private life and a board investigation that began on November 8.
What changes at Nvidia right now
The leadership chart looks very different from a week ago. Here is the change, based only on Nvidia’s announcement.
| Role | Before November 12 | After November 12 |
|---|---|---|
| President and CEO | Jensen Huang | Colette Kress (interim) |
| Chief financial officer | Colette Kress | Colette Kress, until a permanent CEO is named |
| Chair of the Board | No chair role | Harvey C. Jones, the first in Nvidia’s history |
| Huang’s board seat | Held by Huang | Huang resigned from the board |
The new chair role separates board leadership from the CEO job, as The Korea Herald noted in its report on the resignation. That gives the board its own leader while it searches for a new chief executive.
Who is Colette Kress?
Kress joined Nvidia in September 2013. Before that, she spent nearly 25 years in finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft. Jones said she has “a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position.”
She is supported by “an experienced leadership team,” Jones added. Kress, in her own statement, said she is committed to “building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years.”
Who is Harvey C. Jones?
Jones has more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur, technology executive and venture investor. He previously served as CEO and Executive Chairman of Synopsys, a chip design software company.
What it means for customers, investors and staff
For customers, the board’s message is continuity. “We expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption,” Jones said. That is an expectation, not a contract. Still, it is the clearest signal Nvidia has given buyers of its AI chips.
Kress framed her priorities in similar terms. Her focus, she said, “remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders.” The board also thanked Huang for his “immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.”
Earnings stay on schedule
Nvidia will report results for the third quarter of fiscal 2027 on Tuesday, November 17, at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific time. A conference call follows at 2 p.m. Pacific. The date was set before the resignation. The announcement does not say who will host the call.
How the stock reacted
Reports of the drop vary. The Korea Herald said shares fell more than 10% in US premarket trading. PC Gamer put the premarket decline at around 12%. Yahoo Finance’s live coverage showed a fall of about 10%.
Yahoo Finance said the stock hit $156.20 overnight, its lowest level since July 2025. By its math, Nvidia lost more than $600 billion in market value since the previous Thursday. The slide from the October 6 record close of $239.24 adds up to about $2 trillion. Apple and Microsoft are now larger by market value, Yahoo Finance said.
Analysts split on the outlook, according to notes collected by Yahoo Finance. Bernstein downgraded the stock to Market-Perform and cut its target from $400 to $200. Oppenheimer’s Rich Schafer downgraded it and pulled his price target, citing “no obvious successor.” Raymond James’ Simon Leopold kept a Strong Buy rating. He argued the CEO’s conduct likely does not change the fundamentals.
Nvidia itself has flagged this risk. Its 2026 annual filing says the company is “highly dependent on the services of our longstanding executive team,” Yahoo Finance reported.
How Nvidia got here: a short timeline
The resignation capped a fast-moving story. These dates come from TechCrunch’s timeline of the Huang scandal and the other sources named here.
- October 29: The New York Times reported a close relationship between Huang and Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive. An Nvidia spokesperson called their interactions “not unusual or unexpected.”
- November 5: The chairmen of three House committees asked Huang for a closed-door briefing on his ties to Chinese intelligence.
- November 8: Huang told staff he had been unfaithful to his wife. The board opened an independent investigation.
- November 9: Shares fell more than 5%. Huang pulled out of the ElevenLabs Summit and the Anthropic CEO Forum.
- November 11: The New York Times, citing five people who worked at Nvidia, reported a second relationship. It involved Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who reports directly to Huang. The Wall Street Journal reported the board was preparing to oust him.
- November 12: Nvidia announced Huang’s resignation.
Neither Nvidia, Huang nor Powell had confirmed the Powell report, TechCrunch said. US intelligence officials reportedly suspect Alice Huang of working for China, The Korea Herald reported. Beijing has denied she was a spy, according to Bloomberg reporting cited by Yahoo Finance. Earlier, Nvidia said it had no reason to believe its trade secrets or US national security were compromised.
What remains unclear
The announcement leaves several questions open. These are the ones to watch:
- The investigation: The transition notice does not mention the board’s review. It is not clear whether it continues or whether Nvidia will publish findings.
- Huang’s future role: Nvidia did not say whether he keeps any advisory role. PC Gamer noted that leaving the board may ease concerns about his large stake and influence.
- The CEO search: No timeline exists. Bloomberg reported that the board worked with an outside firm to identify possible successors, Yahoo Finance said.
- Congress: Huang’s reply to the House briefing request was due on Thursday. Committee chairmen Brian Mast and John Moolenaar have said a subpoena could follow if he does not comply.
- Other probes: President Trump said on Monday that the FBI was looking into the relationship. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons asked the administration to preserve related records, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The first real test for the new leadership arrives on November 17. Investors will look for the forecast, and for any word on who leads Nvidia next.
