Nvidia’s board is searching for a permanent chief executive and has named no one: its Form 8-K of 12 November says Colette Kress serves as interim chief executive “while the Board conducts a search for a new Chief Executive Officer”. Across Reuters, the Financial Times, Semafor, CNBC and Axios, 11 people have been named as possible picks in reports we read in full, by our count. Kress is the only name all five outlets used.
Prediction markets have moved since our snapshot on 12 November. Polymarket’s price for a permanent chief executive named by 31 December 2026 fell from 45% to 18.5% by 11:57 UTC on 13 November. These are prices traders paid, not a forecast of ours. The next fixed date is Nvidia’s third-quarter results on 17 November, 4 days away by our count.
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The key insight: As we read the filing and the reports together, the board has said only how it will search, inside and outside Nvidia, while all 11 names come from outlets, analysts, investors and unnamed people; Kress is the one person on both lists, as interim chief executive in the 8-K and as a name used by all five outlets, by our count.
We group the names by type, not by likelihood. Within each group, names are ordered by how many of the five outlets named each person, with ties in alphabetical order. That is our count, not a ranking. By type, four are Nvidia insiders, four are chip-industry executives and three are operators from outside chips; together the five outlets made 22 mentions, by our count. Our first list of reported names has the outlet quotes in full.
Nvidia insiders. Kress, named by all five outlets, has been Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2013 and continues in that role while serving as interim chief executive, the 8-K says. Ian Buck, named by Reuters, the FT and Axios, is vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing, according to Nvidia’s bio, which calls Buck the “Inventor of CUDA”.
Reuters listed “32-year Nvidia veteran Jeff Fisher”; the latest Nvidia bio we found, from 2014, gives Fisher’s title as senior vice president of the GeForce business unit. Axios added Chris Malachowsky, who founded Nvidia in 1993 and serves as a member of the executive staff, per Nvidia’s bio.
Chip-industry executives. Rene Haas, named by Reuters, the FT and Axios, has been Arm’s chief executive since February 2022 and earlier spent seven years at Nvidia, according to Arm’s annual report. Semafor reported, citing one person familiar with the matter, that Apple chief hardware officer Johny Srouji was “being considered for the top job”; Axios, citing Bloomberg, also listed Srouji.
Lisa Su, AMD’s chair and chief executive, was named by the FT and by Axios, which cited Bloomberg. Axios also listed Pat Gelsinger, who resigned as Intel’s chief executive on 1 December 2024, according to Intel’s 8-K. Axios said there was no public indication that Nvidia’s board is considering Gelsinger.
Outside operators. Tim Cook, who moved from chief executive to Executive Chair of Apple on 1 September 2026 per Apple’s 8-K, was named by the FT, which said Cook “is seen as an unlikely candidate for the role”, and by Axios. President Donald Trump also named Cook in a Truth Social post on 12 November.
Axios listed Nikesh Arora, chairman and chief executive of Palo Alto Networks since 2018, and said investors had floated the name, citing The Economic Times. Shaun Maguire, whose X profile describes Maguire as a Sequoia partner, called Arora a personal pick in a post on X; that is an opinion, not reporting. Axios also listed Thomas Kurian, chief executive of Google Cloud since November 2018, per Google Cloud’s bio.
Bloomberg’s 13 November account of the board’s final meeting was behind a paywall; we could read only its opening. A Japanese-language summary of it posted on X said there was no formal succession plan and that names including Su and Haas had surfaced. We could not check that line against Bloomberg’s own text, so it does not change our count. By our rules, the list leaves out relatives of the former chief executive and names that appear only in prediction markets or social posts.
People named as possible Nvidia chief executives in reports we read in full from Reuters, the Financial Times, Semafor, CNBC (a Citi note) and Axios, 11-12 November 2026, grouped by type. Roles come from Nvidia’s 8-K and official bios and filings. Counts are our count; within each group, names are ordered by number of outlets, ties alphabetical. This is not a ranking or a forecast. Relatives of the former chief executive are left out.
What the Markets Price Now
These are labelled market prices, not our forecast. At 11:57 UTC on 13 November, Polymarket’s “Next CEO of NVIDIA?” market priced Ian Buck at 28.5%, Kress at 13.95% and Haas at 12.7%, against 33%, 21.45% and 10.95% in our 16:53 UTC snapshot on 12 November. On Kalshi, Buck was at 30.5%, Kress at 13% and Haas at 12.5%, using the midpoint of bid and ask, our arithmetic. Srouji rose on Kalshi from 3% to 8.5%.
The outcome Polymarket labels “No Change”, which pays if no successor is announced by 31 December 2028, rose from 3.5% to 7.6%. A separate Polymarket question, whether a new chief executive is named by 31 December 2026, fell from 45% to 18.5%, on $45,780 of volume. A third market, internal or external, priced internal at 51% and external at 47%, on $12,055 of volume.
Polymarket’s rules say the market resolves on “the first individual who is officially announced as the successor” and that “Interim CEOs will not qualify”; public statements from Nvidia are the resolution source. Kalshi’s rules say “Interim or acting appointments do not qualify”. Polymarket’s main market had $1,171,029 of volume at 11:57 UTC, up from $562,337 in our snapshot; Kalshi’s had 2,855,339 contracts. Haas’s Polymarket outcome had $14,087 of volume and Su’s $15,958, so small orders can move those prices. Our prediction-market piece has the 12 November figures.
Polymarket prices from its public API at 16:53 UTC on 12 November and 11:57 UTC on 13 November 2026. The top row is a separate yes/no market on a new chief executive named by 31 December 2026; “No successor by 2028” is the outcome Polymarket labels “No Change”. These are prices traders paid, not our forecast; thin outcomes move on small trades.
What Happens Now, Date by Date
Now. Kress runs Nvidia as interim chief executive and stays chief financial officer “until a permanent successor has been named”, says the release attached to the 8-K. The board “will consider internal and external candidates”, the release says, and Bloomberg reported on 11 November that the board had been working with an outside firm to identify potential replacements. The 8-K sets no deadline for the search.
Investigations. Nvidia plans to continue the independent investigation it announced on 8 November, The Information reported on 12 November; the independent directors retained Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Joon H. Kim. US officials have not reached a conclusion, CNN reported, and Attorney General Todd Blanche said there are still “no conclusions reached by the Department of Justice, or by me, or by [FBI] Director Patel”. Our report on the resignation carries both updates.
17 November, 4 days away. Nvidia reports third-quarter fiscal 2027 results at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific, “as previously scheduled”, with the call at 2 p.m. Pacific, the release says; Nvidia’s investor site lists the event for 5:00 p.m. Eastern. The FT reported that Kress is due to host the call. A senators’ records letter to the administration also gave 17 November as its confirmation deadline, as set out in our calendar of dates ahead.
18 November, 5 days away. Kress wrote in a staff email obtained by CNBC that Nvidia will “host a company meeting on November 18 at 9am PT”. The same date is the one three House chairs requested, in a 4 November letter, for a joint, closed-door briefing by Jensen Huang.
By 26 November, 13 days away. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast said Huang had agreed to testify before Congress, Bloomberg reported, and Bloomberg TV’s Annmarie Hordern wrote that Mast gave the timing as before Thanksgiving, with no specific day. Our piece on the House testimony has the letter.
3 and 10 December, 20 and 27 days away. Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott asked Huang to appear on 3 December and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on 10 December. Lutnick has agreed to appear voluntarily, NBC News reported, as cited by CNBC; the quoted statement names no date. Details are in our Senate hearings piece.
31 December, 48 days away. That is the cut-off for Polymarket’s market on whether a new chief executive is named in 2026, priced at 18.5% at 11:57 UTC.
Customers and staff. Board chair Harvey Jones said in the release that the board expects “operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption”. Nvidia’s 10-Q shows $169.5 billion of commitments and guarantee caps not yet paid out, by our sum in our piece on Nvidia’s deal pledges, including a $105 billion cap on credit support for an affiliate of OpenAI. Inside the company, an internal post asking the board to weigh employee sentiment drew more than 1,600 comments, WIRED reported, as covered in our staff post piece.
Three Signals to Watch
Signal one, 17 November: the results call. The FT reported that Kress is due to host it. Watch for any word on the search, the leadership team or customer commitments, and for whether the outlook changes.
Signal two: an 8-K naming a permanent chief executive. Both market rules resolve on an official announcement, and interim appointments do not count. Nvidia disclosed the interim appointment in an 8-K; a change to it, such as the chief operating officer role Semafor reported the board had debated, is the other filing item to look for.
Signal three, 18 November to 10 December: the Washington calendar. The requested House briefing, testimony before Thanksgiving per Mast, and the Senate Banking dates of 3 and 10 December run alongside the board’s own investigation, which has no published end date.
The Structural Read
As we read the groups, the reported field splits almost evenly by type: four Nvidia insiders, four chip-industry executives and three operators from outside chips, by our count, which matches the release’s own words: internal and external candidates.
As we read the market data, traders moved away from a quick permanent appointment rather than towards any one name: the price for a pick by 31 December 2026 fell from 45% to 18.5%, while no outcome in the main Polymarket market was priced above 30% at 11:57 UTC.
Harvey Jones, Chair of the NVIDIA Board, in the release attached to the 8-K, 12 November 2026
“The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.”
Three Implications
FOR INVESTORS The release says third-quarter fiscal 2027 results are due on 17 November at about 1:20 p.m. Pacific, as previously scheduled; the FT reported that Kress is due to host the call.
FOR THE BOARD The 8-K names an interim chief executive who stays CFO and sets no deadline for the search; Bloomberg reported on 11 November that the board has been working with an outside firm.
FOR READERS OF THE COVERAGE Eleven names across five outlets, by our count, rest on analysts, investors and unnamed people; prediction-market prices are trades, not reporting on the board’s process.
The framework describes the AI Supercycle as having “a layered industrial stack of nine layers, running from energy at the bedrock to governance at the ceiling”.
As we read it, the search sits on the governance layer: who decides who runs the largest company at the silicon layer, and on what timetable. The framework does not discuss Nvidia’s board or the names reported.
What Is Not Established
Nvidia has named no candidate for the permanent post, and the 8-K and release set no timetable for the search. The names rest on analysts, investors and people familiar with the matter, not on the board; Semafor’s Srouji report rests on one person. Fisher’s title comes from a 2014 Nvidia bio.
We read only the opening of Bloomberg’s 13 November article, and the Bloomberg reports Axios cites only as Axios cited them, so Bloomberg is not counted as one of the five outlets. Prediction-market prices reflect trades on those platforms; they are not reporting on the board’s process. Nvidia was not contacted for this piece.
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Eleven people have been named as possible Nvidia chief executives across five outlets, by our count, and Kress is the only name all five used. The board says it is searching inside and outside the company and has named no one. Polymarket’s price for a permanent pick by 31 December 2026 fell from 45% to 18.5% in about 19 hours, and the next fixed dates are results on 17 November and the company meeting on 18 November.
A note on sourcing. We read Nvidia’s Form 8-K and attached release of 12 November in full, and Nvidia’s investor relations events page on 13 November. The names come from Reuters, Financial Times, Semafor and CNBC reports we read in full on 11-12 November and the Axios list published late on 12 November; roles come from Nvidia, Arm, AMD, Apple, Intel, Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud bios and filings.
Outlet counts and groups are our count and our classification, not a ranking. We read only the opening of Bloomberg’s 13 November article; one line from a summary of it is labelled as such and not counted. Market prices come from the Polymarket and Kalshi public APIs at 11:57 UTC on 13 November and our 16:53 UTC snapshot on 12 November; Kalshi midpoints and all day counts are our arithmetic.
Dated steps in Washington and inside Nvidia come from our earlier reports, which link their primary sources. We leave out personal material and relatives of the former chief executive. We did not contact Nvidia for this piece.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
