Nvidia’s valuation sinks to decade-plus low after Jensen Huang exits

Nvidia spent 33 years with the same person at the top. On November 12, 2026, that streak ended.

Co-founder and chief executive Jensen Huang resigned after a board investigation into his personal conduct. Investors responded quickly, and not kindly: the stock fell as much as 13% intraday and finished the week down approximately 12%.

What happened inside Nvidia

The sequence began in late October 2026, when the New York Times published reports about Huang’s personal life. Huang then acknowledged infidelity in a letter to employees.

Shortly afterward, Nvidia’s board launched its own investigation. Within weeks, the only CEO the company had ever known was gone.

The board moved fast on the succession question, at least for now. Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer since 2013, was named interim CEO on the same day Huang stepped down.

Kress keeps her CFO responsibilities as well. She now holds two of the most demanding jobs at one of the world’s most closely watched companies.

The board also named Harvey C. Jones as Nvidia’s first-ever board chair, alongside the CEO change. A search for a permanent chief executive is underway.

The valuation math

The selloff did real damage to how the market prices Nvidia’s future. The stock’s forward price-to-earnings ratio compressed to roughly 12x expected earnings.

That is the lowest level since 2012. Back then, Nvidia was known mostly as a graphics chip company, well before it became the central supplier of the AI buildout.

The intraday drop of as much as 13% on November 12 shows how quickly that uncertainty was priced in. Buyers did not wait for an earnings report or a guidance update. The leadership news alone was enough.

Why founder exits hit differently

Huang’s departure came out of a scandal and an internal probe, not a planned retirement. That difference matters to investors, because an unplanned exit tends to raise questions a scheduled transition answers in advance.

Kress does bring continuity. She has run Nvidia’s finances for more than a decade, through the company’s transformation into an AI heavyweight.

Still, her interim title and her continued finance duties both suggest the board sees this as a bridge, not a destination.

What this means for investors and the AI trade

The next big checkpoint is Nvidia’s earnings call, expected on November 17. It will likely be Kress’s first major public test as interim chief executive.

The compressed multiple cuts both ways. For bulls, a forward P/E near 12x for a company at the center of AI spending may look like the market overreacting to a personnel story. For skeptics, it reflects a genuine risk premium that will not fade until a permanent leader is named.

The creation of an independent board chair role, filled by Jones, means Nvidia’s oversight structure looks different than it did a month ago.

For now, the market has delivered its verdict on the uncertainty: a valuation not seen in more than a decade.