Nvidia's second-largest shareholder sold about $946 million in company stock in the months leading up to CEO Jensen Huang's resignation on Nov. 12.
Nvidia [NASDAQ: NVDA] Board Director Mark Stevens was one of the top AI sellers in Q3 2026, selling roughly 4.2 million shares, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There were three separate batches of stock sales from Stevens, who joined the Nvidia board in 2008 following an earlier stint as a director from 1993 to 2006.
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The first common stock sale took place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 at equity prices ranging from $220 to $226, generating $411 million in new cash. The second sale stretched from Sept. 3 to Sept. 4 at prices ranging between $227 to $234 per share, garnering about $236 million. The third sale occurred on Sept. 18 at roughly $220 per share, netting roughly $300 million.
Still holding plenty of Nvidia stock
Prearranged trading plans are used by executives to buy or sell shares of their firm on specific dates or target prices. It's a mechanism to wall off company employees from insider trading accusations as long as they stick to the automatic plan.
The SEC first instituted the practice in 2000 and modified it in 2022 to include a 90-day waiting period for starting trades. In some cases, the plans were abused by executives in instances like executing share sales just before an earnings report.
In Stevens's case, he didn't have such a trading plan, but that's not necessarily a red flag on its own. Insiders cashing out of their stock will do so for a variety of reasons that aren't always tied to a company's performance, such as quickly raising liquidity. In Nvidia's case, the move could pour water on the enthusiasm of retail investors to buy into an AI titan that has also attracted short sellers.
The first two stock sales in late August and early September followed a robust Q2 earnings report that caused Nvidia shares to jump about 10% in valuein the following week. Stevens still holds about 27.5 million shares in Nvidia, a colossal position.
The financial fallout of Huang's resignation
Huang's stunning resignation came shortly after reports emerged that he'd had a second extramarital relationship with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell.
Huang was already drawing enormous scrutiny following his recent admission of an affair with a woman alleged to be a Chinese intelligence operative. Nvidia's board of directors issued a statement on Nov. 12 that credited Huang with positioning the company as a big player in the AI boom and named Colette Kress as interim CEO.
"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," the statement said.
On Nov. 13, Nvidia was trading at about $163 per share. Its equity prices, though, have plunged about 15% in the last several days as Nvidia has shed roughly $1.7 trillion from its market cap since the start of October.
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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Nvidia director sold nearly $1B in stock weeks before the Jensen Huang scandal broke — and no trading plan was flagged
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