Datavault AI Stock Rallies After Board Fires CEO, Several Execs Replaced

Datavault AI Inc. (NASDAQ:DVLT) shares jumped Friday after the company moved its finance chief, Brett Moyer, into the CEO role, capping a turbulent stretch that began with a warning about its books.

The stock traded up about 14.5% at roughly 7 cents by mid-morning, according to Benzinga Pro data. More than 70 million shares changed hands in the first hour.

• DVLT stock is climbing on the news. Get all the details here.

New Faces in Charge

Late Thursday, Datavault disclosed the removal of Nathaniel Bradley as president and CEO, effective Nov. 1, without naming a successor. Friday brought the answer.

In a press release, the board announced Moyer’s appointment to the top role along with Kimberly Briskey as board chair, Sri Peruvemba as vice chair, Teri Gallo as COO and Stanley Mbugua as CFO. Christopher R. Hardt takes over as chair of the audit committee.

Mbugua’s earlier roles include senior finance positions, among them corporate controller, at Lattice Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ:LSCC) and Silicon Image Inc.

Briskey said the board moved to tighten governance and accountability and to focus resources on the opportunities offering "the clearest path to value for stockholders."

The Bitcoin Problem

Investors had reason to welcome a change. On Oct. 27, Datavault AI stock crashed after the company told investors to stop relying on four sets of financial statements.

The list covers quarterly reports for the periods ended Sept. 30, 2025, March 31, 2026, and June 30, 2026, along with the 2025 annual report. Shares fell nearly 40% during the session.

The trouble traces to a $150 million equity deal signed in September 2025 with Scilex Holding Co. (NASDAQ:SCLX). Scilex agreed to buy 15 million Datavault shares and a pre-funded warrant for more than 263.9 million shares, paying in Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC).

Scilex credited 1,309.04 bitcoin to a Datavault account at Biconomy through an off-chain transfer. Datavault later sold 491.431 of those coins back to Scilex for about $40.5 million in cash.

In June 2026, Datavault asked to move bitcoin from the Biconomy account to an outside wallet. As of the October filing, the withdrawal had not gone through.

After reviewing the deal, the company concluded the bitcoin never qualified as its own digital asset. The holdings will instead be recorded as a subscription receivable owed by Scilex, shown as a reduction of stockholders’ equity.

Assets Shrink

Restatements are expected to cut total assets by $8.1 million as of Sept. 30, 2025, and by $92.2 million as of Dec. 31, 2025. The reductions total $57.1 million as of March 31, 2026, and $49.0 million as of June 30, 2026.

Management is also revisiting going-concern evaluations for 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. Those reviews had counted the bitcoin as a source of liquidity.

More bad news followed on Nov. 3, when DataMeds AI ended a letter of intent with Datavault and several partners, citing market conditions.

A Long Road Ahead

Friday’s bounce barely dents the damage. Shares remain far below their 52-week high of $2.75, and the move comes against a rough backdrop for tech. Thursday’s tech selloff was the sector’s worst since the pandemic, as investors feared midterm results could stall the AI data center boom.

No date has been set for the restated filings, and Datavault warned more errors could surface. The company flagged possible delays to its third-quarter report, currently slated for Nov. 20, and listed Nasdaq listing compliance among its risks. Moyer and Mbugua inherit both problems on day one.

DVLT Stock Price Activity: Datavault AI stock was up 15.54% at $0.06 at the time of publication Friday, according to Benzinga Pro market data.

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