I just came across some huge news: something major is happening at Nvidia. The Wall Street Journal reported last night that the board is preparing to oust founder and CEO Jensen Huang, and could meet as early as Wednesday evening to decide his fate. The trigger was a New York Times report published the same night. The Times cited five people who had worked at Nvidia, saying Huang had been involved in a relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of healthcare. The two were also photographed behaving intimately at a San Jose hotel in March. Reuters also confirmed that the board was indeed meeting Wednesday evening, while Bloomberg reported that the board had already hired headhunters to look for a successor and was considering having CFO Colette Kress serve as interim CEO for a while.
The whole story has unfolded over just a few days. Last Sunday, Huang had just admitted in an internal letter that he had been unfaithful, with Alice Huang, who is suspected of having ties to Chinese intelligence. The board publicly voiced its support for him at the time, then brought in the law firm Wachtell and former federal prosecutor Joon Kim on Tuesday to conduct an independent investigation. But in less than three days, the mood changed completely. After the news broke, Nvidia shares plunged more than 8% in after-hours trading, falling from $173.73 to around $158. Its market capitalization has now shed roughly $600 billion over the course of the week.
I think the impact on crypto markets is pretty direct. Nvidia is the leader of this AI rally, and if it crashes, Nasdaq futures fall along with it, causing investors’ risk appetite to tighten all at once. Bitcoin $BTC had already been under pressure these past few days from five straight days of ETF outflows. On Wednesday, there were another $300 million in outflows, with Bitcoin hovering right around the low-$73,000 range. Ethereum $ETH has also been drifting just above $2,000. I’m still leaning somewhat bearish in the short term. The key things to watch are whether the board actually announces a decision and whether Nvidia’s earnings report on the 17th can stabilize the situation. Until then, the market will probably remain on edge for a while.
(Source: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, November 12; as of now, Nvidia has not issued any announcement or confirmed a leadership change.)
Not investment advice
The whole story has unfolded over just a few days. Last Sunday, Huang had just admitted in an internal letter that he had been unfaithful, with Alice Huang, who is suspected of having ties to Chinese intelligence. The board publicly voiced its support for him at the time, then brought in the law firm Wachtell and former federal prosecutor Joon Kim on Tuesday to conduct an independent investigation. But in less than three days, the mood changed completely. After the news broke, Nvidia shares plunged more than 8% in after-hours trading, falling from $173.73 to around $158. Its market capitalization has now shed roughly $600 billion over the course of the week.
I think the impact on crypto markets is pretty direct. Nvidia is the leader of this AI rally, and if it crashes, Nasdaq futures fall along with it, causing investors’ risk appetite to tighten all at once. Bitcoin $BTC had already been under pressure these past few days from five straight days of ETF outflows. On Wednesday, there were another $300 million in outflows, with Bitcoin hovering right around the low-$73,000 range. Ethereum $ETH has also been drifting just above $2,000. I’m still leaning somewhat bearish in the short term. The key things to watch are whether the board actually announces a decision and whether Nvidia’s earnings report on the 17th can stabilize the situation. Until then, the market will probably remain on edge for a while.
(Source: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, November 12; as of now, Nvidia has not issued any announcement or confirmed a leadership change.)
Not investment advice
