Nvidia Board Is Preparing to Oust CEO Jensen Huang, WSJ Reports, as Shares Fall 8.6% After Hours

Published November 12, 2026, 11:30 AM PKT. Based on the Wall Street Journal report of November 11, 2026, reporting by Bloomberg and Reuters on November 11, 2026, a statement from Nvidia's board of directors dated November 8, 2026 (primary source), and reporting by CoinDesk, The Block and Mac Observer on November 12, 2026 (secondary sources). Nvidia has not confirmed the reports and has announced no decision on Jensen Huang's future.

Nvidia's board is preparing to remove chief executive Jensen Huang and could meet as soon as Wednesday to decide his future, the Wall Street Journal reported on November 11, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter, in a leadership crisis that knocked the world's most valuable company down in after-hours trading and spilled into crypto markets.

Nvidia shares closed at $173.73 on Wednesday and fell 8.6% in after-hours trading to $158.76 by 7:59 p.m. Eastern, a drop of $14.97 a share, according to after-hours trading data reported by Mac Observer. Perpetual futures tied to Nvidia stock on Hyperliquid, the decentralised exchange, fell as much as 10% to a low of about $156.14, according to The Block, and cumulative trading volume in Nvidia perpetuals across all exchanges surged to a record high of more than $4 billion, according to data provider Coinglass, as cited by CoinDesk. Bitcoin ($BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, traded near $73,650, little changed over the previous 48 hours, according to CoinDesk.

The after-hours selloff, in numbers

The stock market move was fast and the crypto market move was faster. Nvidia's Nasdaq-listed shares slid more than 7% in after-hours trading right after the Journal report, according to Fortune, as cited by ScanRadar, and reached $158.76 by 7:59 p.m. Eastern, according to Mac Observer. The tokenised version of Nvidia stock, NVDAx from xStocks, dropped as much as 9% before recovering slightly to $159.51, according to The Block.

On Hyperliquid, the NVDA-USDC perpetuals began sliding around 5 p.m. Eastern, according to The Block, hitting a low of roughly $156.14 before recovering slightly. The contracts were down 6.8% over the previous 24 hours to trade at $158.86 as of 7:50 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. CoinDesk, writing later at 11:03 p.m. Eastern, put the perpetuals down nearly 12% to $160.99, with similar losses on centralised exchanges including Binance, OKX and Bybit.

The scale of the crypto reaction shows how far Nvidia has travelled into crypto markets. Nvidia perpetuals are the largest by open interest among Hyperliquid's traditional-finance-linked derivatives, according to CoinDesk, and the fourth largest overall, behind only Bitcoin ($BTC), Ether ($ETH) and Hyperliquid's own HYPE token ($HYPE) futures. The HYPE-USDC perpetuals listed on Hyperliquid led the way with $535 million of open interest as of CoinDesk's writing.

Prediction markets moved just as sharply. On Kalshi, the odds of Huang stepping down as Nvidia chief executive before November 13, 2026 surged to 64%, up from around 37% just a few hours earlier, according to The Block. On Polymarket, the probability that Huang resigns or is removed by year end stood at 83% to 88%, depending on the time of the reading, up roughly 55 percentage points in a day, according to BigGo Finance.

What the Journal, Bloomberg and Reuters reported

The Journal reported at about 5:30 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, November 11, that the board was preparing to oust Huang and could meet as soon as Wednesday to decide his future, according to Reuters, which summarised the report and said it could not immediately verify it. Semafor confirmed the board was preparing to oust him and said directors were scheduled to meet on Wednesday evening, while the Financial Times also reported on the board's deliberations, citing people familiar with the matter, according to ShiftDelete.

Bloomberg reported in an update at 4:30 p.m. Pacific that the board is working with an outside firm to identify possible replacements for Huang and is weighing whether to name a temporary chief executive during the search, according to ShiftDelete. Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, that the board was meeting late Wednesday to decide whether to oust Huang.

None of the reports says a decision has been made. As of Thursday morning, Nvidia had made no announcement about Huang's future, the company had not commented on the board meeting when Reuters asked, and Huang remained chief executive, according to Mac Observer. Under Nvidia's bylaws, a majority of its 11 directors can remove the chief executive with or without cause, and every director except Huang is independent, according to Mac Observer.

The investigation that started it

The crisis began on Sunday, November 8, when Huang admitted to staff that he had been unfaithful to his wife. The same day, Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation after reports that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The board said a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel, would oversee the inquiry, and that it currently had no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised. The board added that it has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team, and Huang said he fully supports the review and will cooperate with it.

The affair at the centre of the reports involved Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based company spun out of a Chinese gaming business that counts Nvidia among its customers. United States intelligence officials reportedly believed she was acting on behalf of Beijing, according to CoinDesk, and a memo circulated among top United States policymakers last spring alleged she had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to gather intelligence on the Nvidia founder, according to The Block. China's embassy has dismissed the allegations as baseless, according to AI Daily News. Megaspeed, which bought nearly $5 billion in Nvidia artificial intelligence chips and hardware, has been under United States investigation over possible chip smuggling, according to BigGo Finance.

On November 10, the independent members of Nvidia's board said they had retained Joon H. Kim, a former acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz to run the independent investigation, according to the Nvidia newsroom statement cited by ShiftDelete.

The situation escalated late on Wednesday when the New York Times reported a second extramarital relationship, this time with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care, who reports to Huang, according to The Block. The Times reported that Huang and Powell were seen behaving affectionately at a San Jose, California hotel during an Nvidia conference in March, according to two former company employees cited by The Block. Minutes later, the Journal reported that the board was getting ready to oust Huang, according to Mac Observer.

Washington is watching the same story. President Trump said the FBI is looking into Huang's ties to Alice Huang, according to Mac Observer, and House committee chairs Brian Mast and John Moolenaar asked Huang for a closed briefing, with a November 11 deadline to respond and a possible subpoena if he refused. As of November 12, no report of Huang's answer had surfaced, and the closed briefing is set for November 18, according to TechUpsider. Nvidia is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on November 17.

No chair, no named successor

Part of the market's alarm is that Nvidia has no obvious person to hand the company to. The board has no chair. Under its 2026 proxy statement, Nvidia uses an independent lead director instead: Stephen Neal, the former Cooley chief executive, who has been on the board since 2019 and chairs its nominating and corporate governance committee, according to Digital Trading Lab. Nvidia has never named a number two, and it has no chief operating officer, according to ScanRadar.

Huang, 63, has been president and chief executive since co-founding the company in 1993, according to its latest annual report. He owned 3.58% of Nvidia's shares as of March 23, according to the proxy statement, making him the largest individual holder.

The names raised most often are insiders. Chief financial officer Colette Kress, in the job since 2013, is the name raised most often as an interim leader, according to Digital Trading Lab, and Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson told Business Insider she is the company's only other highly visible executive and could serve as interim chief executive if Huang stepped aside. Ian Buck, who heads Nvidia's hyperscale and high-performance computing business, leads the prediction market odds for the permanent job at 42% on Kalshi, with Kress at 27%, according to BigGo Finance. Reports citing The Information named AMD chief executive Lisa Su and Arm chief executive Rene Haas among the outside possibilities, and Bloomberg reported that Apple hardware chief Johny Srouji is being considered, according to ScanRadar. Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld has said the odds of Huang staying are about 50-50, according to AI Daily News.

What to watch next

Three dates decide what happens next. The first is the board's decision itself, which has no fixed date. If the board does decide to change its chief executive, the first official place to look is usually a Form 8-K, a short notice filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A check of the SEC's EDGAR database on November 12 found Nvidia's latest 8-K dated September 3, 2026, and its newest filing of any kind a Form 4 dated November 6, so there is no 8-K for November, according to TechUpsider.

The second is November 17, when Nvidia reports quarterly earnings, the first scheduled moment the company's leadership will face investors in public. The third is November 18, when the closed House briefing is set. Until one of those produces an official word, the position stands as it has since November 8: Huang remains chief executive, the board has said it has confidence in him, and an independent investigation is running in parallel with reports that the same board is preparing to remove him.

Sources

• Nvidia, Statement from NVIDIA Board of Directors, November 8, 2026 (primary source: board initiates an independent investigation after reports that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort; committee of independent directors with outside independent counsel; no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised; Huang fully supports the review; board has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team)
• CoinDesk, Bitcoin Listless, Nvidia Perps Crash 7% as CEO Jensen Huang Reportedly Faces the Axe, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: Hyperliquid Nvidia perpetuals down nearly 12% to $160.99; Nasdaq-listed stock closed at $173 on Wednesday and dropped further by over 7% in after-market trading; cumulative perpetuals volume above $4 billion according to Coinglass; Nvidia perps largest by open interest among Hyperliquid traditional-finance-linked derivatives and fourth largest overall; Bitcoin ($BTC) near $73,650)
• The Block, Nvidia Perps Plunge 10% on Hyperliquid as Board Reportedly Weighs Ousting Jensen Huang, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: perps hit a low of roughly $156.14, down 6.8% over 24 hours to $158.86 as of 7:50 p.m. Eastern; NVDAx tokenised stock down as much as 9% to $159.51; Kalshi odds of Huang stepping down before November 13 surged to 64% from around 37%; New York Times report of a second relationship with Kimberly Powell; memo alleging Alice Huang was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security)
• Mac Observer, Nvidia Stock Sinks 8.6% After Hours as Jensen Huang Faces Reported Ouster, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: stock closed at $173.73 and slid to $158.76 by 7:59 p.m. Eastern; Nvidia has not announced anything; Huang is still CEO; company did not comment when Reuters asked; board can remove the CEO with or without cause by majority vote; Trump said the FBI is looking into Huang's ties to Alice Huang; House briefing deadline November 11)
• ShiftDelete, Jensen Huang: Nvidia Board Prepares to Oust CEO, WSJ Says, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: Bloomberg reported the board is working with an outside firm to identify possible replacements and is weighing an interim chief executive; Wall Street Journal reported at about 5:30 p.m. Eastern, citing people familiar with the matter; Financial Times also reported; November 10 retention of Joon H. Kim and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz)
• BigGo Finance, Nvidia Board Weighs Ouster of Jensen Huang as Bettors Favor Ian Buck, Colette Kress to Succeed Him, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: board meeting Wednesday to decide Huang's fate; Polymarket probability of resignation or removal by year end at 83% to 88%; Kalshi odds for Ian Buck 42% and Colette Kress 27%; Megaspeed under United States investigation over possible chip smuggling)
• Digital Trading Lab, Is Nvidia Planning to Oust Jensen Huang? What Is Known, and Who Could Succeed Him, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: board has no chair and uses independent lead director Stephen Neal; Huang owned 3.58% of shares as of March 23, the largest individual holder; Huang 63, president and chief executive since co-founding the company in 1993; Kress as the most named interim candidate)
• TechUpsider, Nvidia Jensen Huang Investigation: Confirmed vs Reported, November 12, 2026 (secondary source: no result of the board meeting as of November 12, around 12:15 WIB; latest 8-K dated September 3, 2026 and newest filing a Form 4 dated November 6; closed briefing set for November 18, 2026; November 11 reply deadline passed with no report of Huang's answer)

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.