Huang exit sends Nvidia shares plunging as investors fear key-person risk

Nvidia shares fell more than 10% at Thursday’s market open after company founder Jensen Huang resigned. Analysts cite “key-person risk,” while some investors see the decline as a buying opportunity.

Jensen Huang’s resignation after leading Nvidia for 33 years triggered a sell-off in the company’s shares. At the opening of trading in New York on Thursday, shares of the artificial intelligence chipmaker fell more than 10% to $148.80, their lowest level since mid-2025, Business Insider reports.

Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress took over the company on an interim basis, while the board searches for a permanent leader among internal and external candidates. Analysts identify “key-person risk” as the main reason for the decline: Huang was the face not only of Nvidia but of the entire artificial intelligence boom.

Колетт Кресс, временно исполняющая обязанности гендиректора Nvidia

The scale of the decline

On Wednesday, the shares had closed at $173.73. The Motley Fool calculated that on Thursday morning they were trading about 35% below the record close of $239.24 reached on October 6. TechCrunch reported that since last Friday, when a scandal surrounding Huang’s private life began, the company had lost more than $855 billion in market capitalization. Fortune estimated that Huang’s personal fortune had fallen by about $10 billion.

Nvidia’s decline also pulled down the broader market: during trading, the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.69%, the S&P 500 had fallen 0.37%, while the Dow Jones hovered around flat. Nvidia is the largest holding in the SPY exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500, with a share of about 8%. At the same time, Reuters reported that shares of competitors AMD and Broadcom rose.

Экраны биржи Nasdaq в Нью-Йорке, где торгуются акции Nvidia (архив)

Buy or sell

Opinions on Wall Street were divided. “The market may be confusing Jensen Huang’s value with Nvidia’s value,” said Mark Malek, head of Siebert Financial. He said billions of dollars in revenue, decades of software development and strong customer relationships would not disappear with the departure of the chief executive.

Nancy Tengler, head of Laffer Tengler Investments, said her company would continue buying Nvidia shares ahead of the quarterly earnings report due next week: demand for chips remains high, while Nvidia itself had forecast quarterly revenue of about $108 billion. Ben Barringer of Quilter Cheviot warned that, over the long term, Huang’s departure could harm the entire artificial intelligence ecosystem.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons (archive), Nvidia

Huang exit sends Nvidia shares plunging as investors fear key-person risk