Nvidia faces $5T risk if CEO Jensen Huang departs

Nvidia faces a new risk to its $5 trillion market value: the potential departure of CEO Jensen Huang amid an investigation into whether he disclosed company or state secrets to a foreign intelligence service. Nvidia shares recovered over 4% on Wednesday, partly driven by CoreWeave's earnings, though the stock remains more than 10% lower over the past five trading days. Analysts see a rising chance of a leadership transition, with Baird downgrading Nvidia to Neutral and cutting its price target to $200, while Dan Ives estimates Huang's removal could reduce the company's value by 25-30%. Huang, who has delivered a cumulative stock return exceeding 700,000% during his tenure, manages Nvidia with about 60 direct reports and no publicly identified successor. The company's earnings are expected to exceed $400 billion this fiscal year, but concerns over potential export control tightening and a possible $5 billion write-down add to uncertainty ahead of its November 17 results.