Jensen Huang’s NVIDIA stake loses $20 billion in value over five days

By Elena Vasquez

Jensen Huang’s 811.5 million-share NVIDIA stake lost more than $20 billion in market value over five days, according to Fox Business’s analysis of a September SEC filing and NVIDIA share prices.

That figure measures paper wealth, not cash. Fox Business said the decline reflects a reduction in the market value of Huang’s shares rather than losses realized through stock sales.

The loss landed in the same week Huang left NVIDIA’s leadership. Fox Business also said his resignation did not automatically affect his ownership, leaving the market move separate from the transfer of corporate duties.

How large was the decline?

A September Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed Huang reporting beneficial ownership of approximately 811.5 million NVIDIA shares.

The filing separated that position into direct holdings and holdings held through trusts and other entities:

• Total beneficial ownership: approximately 811.5 million shares.
• Shares held directly: about 70.1 million.
• Other holdings: hundreds of millions through trusts and other entities.

Fox Business paired those holdings with NVIDIA’s closing share price of $186.64 on Friday, Nov. 6. During the Friday market session, the stock traded around $161.

Fox Business said that combination reduced the value of Huang’s holdings by more than $20 billion during the week.

The filing and the two price points show how concentrated founder ownership turns a weekly share-price move into a multibillion-dollar change in reported paper wealth.

No reported sale drove that fall. The account describes a market-value decline, not cash extracted from Huang’s holdings.

For readers, two facts need to stay separate: Huang gave up his jobs, while the September filing still listed him as the beneficial owner of the shares.

The concentration also makes NVIDIA’s share price a direct determinant of a founder’s reported balance sheet. That is the market context behind the headline, even though the filing and resignation describe different events.

Why did Huang step down?

On Thursday, NVIDIA announced that Huang had resigned from his roles as president, CEO and board member. The company’s linked announcement described the change as a CEO transition.

Huang stepped down days after admitting to marital infidelity. In a Sunday email to employees that NVIDIA shared publicly, he said he had been “unfaithful” to his wife.

He wrote: “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry,” the company’s published statement said.

A separate portion of the company statement said: “Regarding the national security concerns raised in news reports, NVIDIA’s Board of Directors has initiated an independent investigation.”

The wording ties the board’s inquiry to concerns raised in news reports. It does not announce a finding about Huang or the woman described in those reports.

NVIDIA’s public sequence moved from the company’s announcement on Thursday to a Sunday email, a separate company statement and a board statement naming the investigation.

For governance, the distinction matters. A personal admission, a corporate investigation and an intelligence allegation may share a public week without becoming the same finding.

The board’s stated trigger was recent reporting. The market impact was immediate, but the institutional process had only begun.

What is the foreign-intelligence allegation?

On Sunday, NVIDIA’s board said it was “initiating an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.”

The phrase “in light of recent reporting” frames the inquiry as a response to claims, not as a declaration that those claims were proven.

The New York Times had reported that Huang had a relationship with a Chinese woman suspected of being a spy. An article published the previous week said:

“A memo that circulated among top policymakers in the Trump administration last spring cited intelligence that a Chinese businesswoman who had a close relationship with Nvidia’s chief executive was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security, according to people briefed on the intelligence.”

That memo reportedly circulated among top policymakers in the Trump administration last spring. Its conclusions came from intelligence cited to people briefed on it, rather than from a conclusion announced by the Justice Department.

On Thursday, Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated that the Justice Department had not reached a conclusion on whether the woman was a spy.

The available account combines a board inquiry, a memo described by briefed officials and a Justice Department that has not reached a conclusion on the allegation.

That leaves the central allegation unresolved in the available reporting.

It also keeps two institutional roles distinct. The board is examining what the reporting raised; Blanche said the Justice Department has not decided whether the woman is a spy.

The personal apology, the board’s inquiry and the stock-price move answer different questions. None of them establishes that the foreign-intelligence claim is true.

For NVIDIA, that unresolved status carries policy and governance stakes beyond the founder’s paper loss.

The board’s independent status gives the company its own review process while federal authorities have not announced a result.

Who leads NVIDIA now?

A linked Fox Business feature identifies Colette Kress as NVIDIA’s new interim CEO. Its headline focuses on the “fortune and rise” of the executive.

That gives the company an interim leader while its board investigates the allegations surrounding Huang. It does not settle the permanent CEO question.

Another linked Fox Business report carried a claim from President Donald Trump: “THERE IS ONLY ONE MAN” to replace Jensen Huang as NVIDIA CEO.

For NVIDIA, the open questions now span the immediate command structure, the board’s independent inquiry and the unresolved allegation that prompted broader public national-security attention.

The Trump statement added a political dimension to the succession debate, while Kress’s appointment supplied the immediate answer inside the company.

The linked reporting does not identify a permanent successor or announce the board’s findings.

An interim CEO can run the company, but only the board can resolve its own investigation.

The Trump quote shows that political commentary has joined the transition, but it does not supply an institutional answer.

What happens next?

Three unresolved questions now frame the transition. The first is the result of the board’s independent investigation. A second is any conclusion from the Justice Department. The third is NVIDIA’s choice of a permanent CEO after Kress’s interim role.

The market consequence is already measurable: more than $20 billion less paper value in five days. The policy and governance questions remain less settled.

The next checkpoints are the board investigation’s findings, any Justice Department conclusion and NVIDIA’s choice of a permanent CEO; until then, control of the company and the credibility of its founder-led transition remain unsettled.