Nvidia's $470 Billion Two-Day Rout Shakes Market Ranking

By Rebecca Stone

Nvidia was on track to lose more than $470 billion in market value across two trading sessions, Reuters reported, after the shares fell 6.03% to $167.90 at 2:22 p.m. ET. The stock touched $166.24 during Tuesday’s decline and sat about 10% below Friday’s close of $186.64.

Pressure started Monday, when Nvidia dropped 4.27% to $178.67, its lowest close since April 7. The two-day figures remained provisional until Tuesday’s close, but Nvidia was already back in a close contest for second place.

What triggered Nvidia’s two-day decline?

The board is examining reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort after Huang told staff he had been unfaithful to his wife. U.S. officials believe the woman, a former executive of Nvidia customer Megaspeed, worked for Chinese intelligence, according to press reports; she has not been charged.

The Information reported on Tuesday that those ties helped move at least $7.5 billion of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms. Reuters said it could not verify that report. Those are different claims: the board has confirmed an investigation, while the scale of the alleged China transfers and Huang’s alleged intelligence exposure remain unproven.

Did Microsoft really retake second place?

Microsoft overtook Nvidia as the world’s second-most-valuable company at midday, the first time since June 2025, Reuters reported in a story updated at 12:06 p.m. ET. Microsoft was down 0.4% at $543.25 while Nvidia traded near $167.11; Reuters did not identify the company holding the top rank.

The lead did not last. Microsoft fell roughly 3% in a sudden move after Anthropic introduced workplace tools that could compete with Office, CNBC reported. By 2:22 p.m., Microsoft was down 1.89% at $534.90, and MLQ.ai estimated Nvidia had moved back ahead by applying each price to its latest weighted-average SEC-filed share count.

Those calculations put Nvidia at about $4.06 trillion using 24.19 billion shares and Microsoft at about $3.97 trillion using 7.43 billion shares. MLQ.ai called the comparison a rough gauge because buybacks change share counts; at midday, a small price move was enough to reverse the ranking.

How did peers and analysts respond?

Semiconductor peers held up better while Nvidia absorbed the investigation and China-related questions. Broadcom rose 3.34% to $330.17 and AMD gained 0.74% to $512.37 at 2:22 p.m.; PHLX Semiconductor stood at 9,920.43, down 1.13%.

On Monday, CNBC reported, AMD gained 13% and Broadcom rose just over 10%, strengthening their relative performance during Nvidia’s earlier decline.

Citi cut its Nvidia price target to $285 from $315 and retained a Buy rating. Wells Fargo lowered its target to $300 from $315 and kept an Overweight rating, CNBC reported. Bank of America said it “would not equate allegations with proven business damage” and framed the commercial test as whether the issue remains company-specific or triggers restrictions and disruption across AI infrastructure, Reuters reported.

Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co said “the Street and investor chatter is assigning roughly a 15% chance he is removed as CEO.” He expects a board investigation that “could take 4 weeks to 6 weeks,” CNBC reported. A shareholder has also sued Nvidia and Huang over his statements.

Is the stock cheap enough to absorb the risk?

Buying the dip provided a counterpoint. Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest purchased 90,443 Nvidia shares across five funds on Monday, worth about $16.2 million at the close, according to ARK’s trade file as reported by 24/7 Wall St. The purchase included 51,097 shares for the ARK Innovation ETF, and ARK also bought 252,592 shares on Nov. 5.

Nvidia’s diluted earnings across its last four reported quarters totaled $7.91 per share, according to its SEC filings, putting the stock at about 21 times trailing earnings at Tuesday’s price.

Stock Titan, using a $166.60 share price, called that multiple the lowest since February 2019 and said the stock stood 30.4% below its Oct. 6 record close of $239.24. Huang’s stake lost $6.5 billion in value on Monday, leaving him worth $148 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Fortune reported.

What comes next?

Nvidia reports fiscal third-quarter results on Tuesday, Nov. 17, giving management its first opportunity to address the board investigation and China business on the call. The board has set no review deadline, and three House committee chairmen have asked Huang to brief them on Nov. 18.

Any close on Microsoft and Nvidia’s market-cap race still had to wait for Tuesday’s final prices, which MLQ.ai said it would update after the close. For investors, the next test is concrete: Huang must show that the company-specific allegations will not trigger restrictions and disruption across AI infrastructure, or Nvidia’s roughly 21-times trailing-earnings valuation may not protect it from Microsoft’s renewed challenge.