Our Take: Nvidia Stock Slides as the Board Weighs Jensen Huang’s Future
By Tech & Money Press · Our Take on Nvidia’s leadership crisis · November 12, 2026
Yesterday’s bounce didn’t last the night. Nvidia (NVDA) was trading at about $160.06 in premarket action at 8:08 a.m. ET Thursday, down about 7.9% from Wednesday’s close of $173.73, according to Webull data. The reason: reports that the company’s board met late Wednesday to decide whether Jensen Huang, the founder who has run Nvidia since 1993, should remain chief executive.
On Wednesday we wrote that the Huang probe wasn’t priced out of the stock. Thursday’s move shows why. The question has shifted from “how long will the review take?” to “will Nvidia have a new CEO?”, and that is a much bigger unknown for the world’s most closely watched AI stock.
What happened
CNBC confirmed that Nvidia’s board met on Wednesday to discuss whether to remove Huang as CEO, and Reuters reported the meeting took place late Wednesday, citing a source. As of 8:08 a.m. ET Thursday, no decision had been announced. The Wall Street Journal had first reported that the board was preparing to oust Huang, and the shares slid as much as 8.6% in after-hours trading Wednesday, according to Euronews.
The meeting came after The New York Times reported late Wednesday that Huang had a second extramarital relationship, this time with an Nvidia executive who reports to him, according to CNBC. That followed earlier reports about his relationship with an executive at cloud company Megaspeed, which led the board to open an independent investigation on Nov. 8. At that time, the board said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.”
Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon told CNBC that the second report makes it “much tougher for the board to leave him in position.” Pressure is also coming from Washington. U.S. lawmakers have called for Huang’s resignation, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office asked the administration to preserve all documents tied to Nvidia’s advanced chip exports to China, CNBC reported.
Wall Street is resetting expectations
Analysts moved quickly. According to CNBC, Bernstein cut its price target to $200 from $400 and lowered its rating to market-perform. Baird cut its target to $200 from $500 and downgraded the stock to neutral. Morgan Stanley removed Nvidia from its “Top Pick” list. Wells Fargo and Citi trimmed their targets but kept positive ratings. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives put the gap in plain terms, valuing Nvidia at $300 a share with Huang as CEO and $225 without him.
Several analysts told CNBC the stock could fall about 20% if Huang is removed. Nvidia is already down more than 20% over the past month, CNBC noted, and Webull data put Thursday’s premarket price about 34% below the 52-week high of $243.37 set on Oct. 6.
The pain isn’t spreading evenly. AMD was up about 1% and Broadcom about 0.5% in premarket trading, per Webull, while futures tied to the Nasdaq traded lower. Reuters reported Nasdaq e-mini futures were off 1% during the Asian session. In Europe, ASML fell 1.9% in morning trading, according to Euronews. When the market leader falls and its closest competitors rise, investors are pricing a company-specific risk, not a collapse in AI spending.
The succession problem
The biggest issue may be that nobody knows what comes next. Reuters reported that Nvidia has no clear succession plan. Ian Buck, an architect of Nvidia’s CUDA software platform, and Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress are among the possible candidates to serve as interim CEO, according to Reuters. We covered the early names in who could be Nvidia’s next CEO.
That matters because Huang isn’t just a manager. He is the face of almost every major product launch and customer relationship, and much of Nvidia’s strategy, from CUDA to its push into full data center systems, is tied to him. Richard Reyle, chief investment officer at Questar Capital Partners, told CNBC that the lack of a succession plan makes the stock “uninvestable.” That’s an extreme view, but it shows how much of Nvidia’s premium has been tied to one person.
What hasn’t changed
Here is the other side. Nothing reported so far points to a problem with Nvidia’s business. In August, the company guided third-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue to $108 billion, plus or minus 2%. Its biggest customers are still spending heavily: CoreWeave raised its 2026 revenue forecast this week and pointed to a backlog of about $132.5 billion, which we covered in our CoreWeave Our Take.
The valuation has also come down a lot. At about $160.06, Nvidia trades at roughly 20 times trailing earnings per share of $7.91, based on Webull data. That’s low for a company that has been growing revenue at the pace Nvidia has.
Our Take
We see this as a leadership risk, not a demand risk, and the market is right to charge a discount for it. Investors can model chip orders. They can’t easily model a CEO change at a company built around its founder. That uncertainty is why the stock keeps falling even though the business story hasn’t changed.
There are three ways this could play out. First, the board keeps Huang, possibly with new oversight. That would likely ease some of the pressure, but political scrutiny wouldn’t disappear. Second, Nvidia names an interim CEO and keeps Huang in a technical or advisory role. That could limit the disruption to customers and engineers. Third, a clean break with no clear successor. That is the outcome the analyst price-target cuts seem to be preparing for.
Whatever the board decides, the Nov. 17 earnings report now matters more than any quarter in recent memory. Investors will want to hear who is running the company, whether customers are pausing orders, and whether the fourth-quarter outlook still shows demand running ahead of supply. Strong numbers wouldn’t end the governance debate, but they would show that the business can stand on its own.
Our view is that the drop reflects real uncertainty, not a broken company. The risk is that this drags on. A long fight with the board, Congress and the press could weigh on the stock even if the numbers stay strong.
The levels on the chart
Nvidia fell from its Oct. 6 high of $243.37 to Wednesday’s close of $173.73. These are the reference points on the daily chart:
- $243.37: the 52-week high, set Oct. 6.
- $200.13: the Nov. 4 close, the last close above $200 before the selloff sped up.
- $173.73: Wednesday’s close.
- $165.89: Tuesday’s intraday low, the lowest point of this week’s regular sessions so far.
- About $160.06: Thursday’s premarket price at 8:08 a.m. ET, below Tuesday’s low.
Premarket prices are based on thin trading and can change a lot before the 9:30 a.m. ET open, especially if the board announces a decision.
Key takeaways
- Nvidia traded at about $160.06 premarket at 8:08 a.m. ET Thursday, down about 7.9% (Webull).
- The board met late Wednesday on Huang’s future, according to CNBC and Reuters. No decision had been announced as of 8:08 a.m. ET Thursday.
- Bernstein and Baird cut their price targets to $200; Morgan Stanley removed Nvidia from its Top Pick list (CNBC).
- Reuters says Nvidia has no clear succession plan; Ian Buck and Colette Kress are among possible interim CEOs.
- AMD and Broadcom rose premarket while Nvidia fell, a sign of company-specific risk.
- Nvidia reports Q3 results on Nov. 17 after the close, against a $108 billion (±2%) revenue outlook.
Disclaimer: For news and education only. Not financial advice. Tech & Money Press is not a registered investment advisor. Trading stocks involves risk, including the loss of your investment. Do your own research and consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.
Sources: CNBC: Nvidia stock falls 7% as investors await Jensen Huang’s fate, Nov. 12, 2026. CNBC: Nerves around Nvidia as investors await the outcome of board’s crisis CEO meeting. Reuters via Investing.com: Morning Bid: Jensen hangs on as Nvidia tumbles. Euronews: European tech shares fall as Nvidia board weighs ousting Jensen Huang. Statement from NVIDIA Board of Directors, Nov. 8, 2026. NVIDIA Announces Financial Results for Second Quarter Fiscal 2027. NVDA, AMD and AVGO daily prices, premarket quotes (8:08 a.m. ET, Nov. 12), P/E and 52-week range: Webull.
Featured image: Nvidia headquarters, Santa Clara. Photo: Coolcaesar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.