NVIDIA shares fall 8.14% after Jensen Huang removal report

By James Calloway

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares fell 8.14% to $159.51 in after-hours trading on November 11, 2026, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was preparing to remove co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang.

The Wall Street Journal published its report late on November 11 and cited people familiar with the matter. It linked potential board action to reports of alleged extramarital affairs. Reuters separately reported that NVIDIA’s board met on November 11 to decide Huang’s future.

By early November 12, NVIDIA had issued no press release, statement, or SEC filing. In premarket trading on November 12, the shares traded at $163.58, down 5.84% from the November 11 close of $173.73. The after-hours drop was larger, but neither price represented a company-confirmed event.

What has actually been confirmed?

Nothing about a removal has been confirmed, and NVIDIA’s company records still list Huang as CEO. The Financial Times reported that the board was set to meet after revelations of an alleged affair with a top company executive. Business Insider described the matter as a second affair, according to the two outlets.

Reuters noted that NVIDIA’s bylaws allow Huang’s removal “with or without cause” by a majority vote of directors. The board has 11 directors, all independent except Huang. Reuters also reported that the board expressed confidence in him as recently as November 8.

The cited reporting disclosed none of the following. No announcement supplied any of these details:

• a vote outcome;
• a replacement;
• severance terms;
• a decision on Huang’s board seat.

Neither NVIDIA nor the cited reports identified a successor or described an operational response. The reports also did not disclose a board finding on the allegations. For now, the reporting establishes a possible leadership change, not a completed dismissal.

How much did investors lose before the report?

24/7 Wall St. calculated that a 2,000-share NVIDIA position was worth $452,640 at the October 12 close of $226.32. At the November 11 after-hours price of $159.51, the same position was worth $319,020. The difference was a $133,620 loss, equal to 29.52%.

24/7 Wall St. said most of that decline occurred before The Wall Street Journal’s report. Reuters said the shares had already fallen to $173.73 by the November 11 close. Reuters tied the earlier selling to a board investigation of Huang’s relationship with a businesswoman whom U.S. intelligence was reportedly probing over chip shipments to China.

Reuters also reported that lawmakers had begun pushing for tighter export controls, government limits on selling chips abroad. Those China-related issues and the proposed limits created policy exposure separate from the personal-conduct allegations. Investors therefore faced governance uncertainty and policy pressure before the Journal story reached the market. The $133,620 example loss cannot be assigned solely to the Journal report.

What do NVIDIA’s revenue figures say?

24/7 Wall St. said NVIDIA’s business outlook looked unchanged. NVIDIA had reported $96 billion in Q2 revenue and guided Q3 revenue to $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%. The source reported no revised outlook after the leadership story, leaving those figures as an operating baseline rather than proof that customer behavior will remain unchanged.

Those figures predate the leadership report. Reuters said demand remained strong, and Huang said in August that demand was “much higher” than supply. That statement did not measure post-report customer behavior or prove that the Q3 guide would hold.

The source made the November 17 earnings call the larger test of whether operating momentum can absorb governance uncertainty. That call will test the $108.0 billion revenue guide. One earnings call cannot settle the longer-term question of founder risk.

Why does Huang’s role matter to AI investors?

Investors call the danger key-person risk: the risk that one leader accounts for a large share of a company’s value. Huang has been the public face of NVIDIA’s partnerships with hyperscalers, the largest cloud providers, and AI laboratories. The source called founder loss a real risk but offered no evidence of imminent operational failure.

In August, Huang said NVIDIA was “the only company in the world that creates, builds, and offers an entire AI factory platform.” That description placed Huang at the center of NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure strategy. The source did not identify an alternate executive who would carry the same commercial relationships or public role.

Reuters quoted one portfolio manager: “The market is starting to price Nvidia without its founder as the likely outcome.” Her firm, Minotaur Capital, owns NVIDIA shares. The quote shows how investors were already pricing succession risk, not that a board vote or departure plan existed.

How much of NVIDIA sits inside passive portfolios?

On Polymarket, traders priced a 0.475 probability that Huang’s resignation or removal would be announced by November 30. The figure equals 47.5%, but it remains a market estimate rather than a disclosed board plan. NVIDIA’s market capitalization of $4,195,058,310,000 made it one of the largest holdings in market-cap-weighted index funds.

Investors who owned NVIDIA only through an S&P 500 or Nasdaq-100 fund carried that exposure too. The source reported no index-fund outflow figures or evidence that passive investors had begun selling. Broad exposure increases the stakes, but it does not identify the cause of the stock’s decline.

What would separate a governance discount from a business problem?

The source judged Huang risk largely priced in and interpreted the selloff mainly as a governance discount. Its case rested on quick, decisive board action addressing the credibility problem and preserving the business case. That remains a conditional scenario, not evidence that directors have chosen a course.

The first formal test is whether NVIDIA files an 8-K under Item 5.02, the section companies use to disclose executive changes. The larger test is NVIDIA’s earnings call scheduled for November 17. If revenue lands inside the $108.0 billion guidance range and the stock holds above $159.51, the source’s framework says the discount concerns governance.

If the shares close below $159.51 after the report, the same framework says investors are questioning the business itself. Price thresholds cannot establish causation, however, and the source reported no revised guidance, customer cancellation, or operational disruption. Those omissions leave the market to infer the effect of a leadership shock before NVIDIA supplies evidence.

The next dated checkpoints are any Item 5.02 filing and the November 17 earnings call. Until NVIDIA discloses a vote, replacement, or severance terms, investors will be trading on a reported risk rather than a confirmed succession.