Abstract:
After Jensen Huang suddenly resigned as CEO of Nvidia, attention is rapidly rising around the leadership changes at the world's largest artificial intelligence chip company. On November 13, local time, two important institutional investors in Nvidia submitted a joint letter to the company's board of directors, requesting the board not to hastily determine a new permanent CEO, but to adopt a more prudent and adequate decision-making process, and to clearly retain the possibility of Huang Renxun returning to the company in the future.
The letter was signed by Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, and Gavin Baker, co-founder and managing partner of Atreides Management. Gerstner subsequently published the letter on the social platform
The two investors emphasized in the letter that Nvidia's board of directors should handle the company's future leadership arrangements in a slow, cautious and well-planned manner. They believe that the board should not rush to find and appoint a permanent successor before the key facts about Huang's departure are fully clarified.
Two investors gave positive comments to Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, who has temporarily taken over the company. Kress has served as Nvidia's chief financial officer since 2013. He has been working at the company for 13 years and has a deep understanding of corporate finance, business operations and customer relationships.
The joint letter believes that Kress and his existing management team are fully capable of continuing to lead Nvidia during the transition period, so there is no need to make hasty decisions in order to fill the CEO position as soon as possible.
However, the two investors also specifically pointed out that Huang Renxun, as the founder and long-term leader of Nvidia, has created extraordinary performance for the company over the past many years. The board should have given him a full and fair process before all the facts about the incident were confirmed, rather than rushing to find a replacement before an investigation was completed.
The letter does not directly ask the board to immediately reinstate Huang, nor does it call for a special shareholder meeting or realignment of board members, but instead focuses on transparency and prudence in the succession process. The two investors hope that the board of directors will retain all possible options, including plans for Huang's future return, and that the final decision should be based on complete facts and shareholder interests.
Judging from the shareholding situation, both institutions are important investors in Nvidia. According to the latest position documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Altimeter Capital held approximately 9.41 million shares of Nvidia as of June 30, 2026, which was worth approximately $1.88 billion at the time, making it one of the largest holdings in the fund's portfolio. Atreides Management held about 1.25 million shares during the same period, valued at about $250 million.
Based on the stock price on November 13, the total value of Nvidia shares held by the two institutions is approximately US$1.74 billion. However, the combined holdings of the two funds only account for about 0.04% of Nvidia's total share capital, so the influence of this joint letter comes more from the two institutions' popularity in the investment industry and the impact it may have on other institutional investors and the board of directors.
At the same time, an online signature campaign calling for Huang to return as CEO continues to expand. The event, called Stand with Jensen, included NVIDIA employees, shareholders, and prominent figures from the technology industry.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has publicly expressed support for the event and said he has also signed a petition calling for Huang's return. Other public backers include Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, Y Combinator President Gary Tan, and Replit CEO Amjad Massad, among other tech industry figures.
As of the early morning of November 14, the number of signatures displayed on the relevant petition website has exceeded 55,000, of which about 3,574 people claim to be current employees of NVIDIA, and about 30,000 signatories claim to be shareholders of the company. However, this identification information mainly relies on self-reporting by the signatories and has not been independently verified, so it cannot be directly regarded as a confirmed number of employees or shareholders.
There are certain differences between this action calling for Huang Renxun's return and the suggestions put forward by the two investment institutions. Online petitioners hope that the board of directors will reinstate Huang as soon as possible, while the two institutional investors place more emphasis on the investigation procedure and decision-making process, believing that the company's long-term leadership arrangements should be decided after all facts are confirmed.
On November 12, Jensen Huang officially resigned as Nvidia’s president, CEO and board member, ending a 33-year leadership career in the company. Nvidia subsequently announced that Kress would temporarily serve as CEO. The company's board of directors also initiated the selection process for a permanent successor and appointed Harvey C. Jones as the first chairman of the board of directors in the company's history.
Huang's departure comes after a series of reports about his personal relationships. Previously, the US media disclosed his relationship with Singaporean businessman Alice Huang, as well as related accusations that the latter may be involved in Chinese intelligence activities. The United States is also investigating whether relevant companies are suspected of assisting in the transfer of Nvidia's advanced artificial intelligence chips that are subject to export restrictions to China.
It should be noted that the current accusations that Alice Huang is suspected of engaging in espionage have not been independently confirmed, and Nvidia has not clearly stated the specific reasons for Huang’s resignation in an official announcement. The company's board of directors has launched an independent investigation and said it currently has no reason to believe that U.S. national security or Nvidia's confidential information has been compromised. Huang Renxun expressed his support for the investigation and his willingness to cooperate with relevant work.
For Nvidia, the most important issue at the moment is not only finding a new leader to succeed Huang Renxun, but also how to deal with the impact of this incident on corporate governance, employee morale, and investor confidence. Jensen Huang is not only the founder of NVIDIA, but also the core shaper of the company's strategic direction and corporate culture over the past 33 years. His personal influence far exceeds the scope of ordinary professional managers.
The two institutional investors’ public request for patience from the board of directors also reflects the capital market’s complex attitude toward sudden changes in Nvidia’s leadership. Investors neither want the company to lose its long-term management advantages due to personal events, nor do they want the board of directors to make major decisions that will affect the company for years to come without adequate investigation.
Nvidia was originally scheduled to announce its third quarter financial results for fiscal year 2027 on November 17. By then, Kress, who has temporarily taken over the company, will become the focus of market attention. Whether she can stabilize the company's operations and maintain the rapid growth of the artificial intelligence chip business, and whether the board of directors will further disclose the progress of Huang Renxun's resignation investigation, will become an important basis for investors to judge Nvidia's future direction.
Currently, Nvidia’s board of directors has not announced a permanent CEO candidate, nor has it clearly ruled out the possibility of Huang Jen-Hsun returning. For this company, which has grown into a core giant in the artificial intelligence industry under the leadership of Huang Renxun, every decision made by the board of directors may become an important turning point in the company's development history.
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