In the week following Huang Renxun’s resignation, Nvidia experienced one of the worst weekly performance records in its history: its market value declined by over $620 billion in just one week, setting a new record for the largest one-week loss in market value. Its stock price also saw its worst performance in more than 18 months.
The consensus on Wall Street is quite straightforward: no one can take his place. Research reports from over a dozen investment banks basically all point to the same fact: NVIDIA’s customer relationships, product development pace, and its control over the CUDA ecosystem are all closely tied to Jen-Hsun Huang personally. Some analysts believe that his departure could have a negative impact on the company’s stock price in the long run.
On the company’s side, NVIDIA issued a statement to clarify these rumors about the succession process: no formal candidates have been approached yet, and the selection process is still in its early stages. The interim CEO role is being undertaken by CFO Colette Kress, while Harvey Jones has been appointed as the new chairman of the board of directors.
Such reactions within the company itself are also quite rare. It is reported that more than 1,600 comments appeared under an internal suggestion post in support of Kim Young-un’s return, and flowers were even placed in front of the company’s headquarters logo as a gesture from the employees. For a company with tens of thousands of employees to collectively petition for the reinstatement of a CEO who had just resigned is something that is also uncommon in Silicon Valley.
The next key milestone is the third-quarter financial report scheduled for November 17th. It will be the first time that Cres will face the market in his role as interim CEO. Rather than the actual figures, what everyone is really interested in knowing is whether someone will be able to articulate Blackwell’s future plans with the same confidence as before.