Investors dumped Fermi shares this week after cofounder Toby Neugebauer stepped down from his executive role, sending the stock down nearly 18% as the company resets to win customers for its Project Matador data‑center campus.

Leadership shake-up at a turning point

Fermi said cofounder and Chief Executive Toby Neugebauer will leave his executive role while remaining the company’s largest shareholder and a board member. Chief Financial Officer Miles Everson also resigned his executive post and will sit on the board, the company announced April 20. The moves came as Fermi launched a "2.0" reset aimed at winning customers for its massive data‑center and power project in the Texas Panhandle.

Shares slid on the news. Fermi’s market value dropped to about $3.4 billion from nearly $20 billion in October, and the stock fell nearly 18% on the leadership change. The company said it will shift its headquarters from Amarillo to Dallas as part of the restructuring.

What Fermi is selling

  • Project Matador: plan to build 11 gigawatts of combined‑generation capacity (nuclear, solar and natural gas).
  • HyperGrid: intended to power large data‑center campuses across roughly 5,000 acres.
  • Land and partnerships: much of the land is linked to the Texas Tech University System and includes leases to the U.S. Department of Energy.
  • Branded campus: the planned campus is named the Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus in West Texas.
  • Commercial status: Fermi has not yet booked a commercial customer for the campus it’s pitching, leaving revenue and investor confidence under pressure since the IPO last year.

Why ousting the CEO could help land a buyer

Analysts say one potential upside is smoother customer talks. Stephen Gengaro, an analyst at Stifel, described Neugebauer’s departure as "surprising" but suggested it could remove friction in negotiations. Management also told investors there’s been "an acceleration in customer conversations" in recent days.

Hyperscalers and large cloud providers are cautious buyers. They vet developers on technical ability, regulatory exposure and executive stability. A founder with a combative public profile can be a red flag. The company had reported losing an initial planned hyperscaler customer earlier this year and faced public controversy after an altercation involving Neugebauer. While Neugebauer will remain on the board, removing him from day‑to‑day control may ease buyer concerns about governance and public headaches.

Fermi’s interim leadership structure underlines that logic. The board created an "office of the CEO" to run day‑to‑day operations while it searches for a permanent chief executive. That interim team will be led by Jacobo Ortiz, Fermi’s chief operating officer, and Anna Bofa, a board observer with industry experience at Google and Meta. The presence of executives with hyperscaler backgrounds could reassure potential customers that the firm understands large‑scale data‑center operations and procurement processes.

Governance and the search for a new CEO

The company said the search firm Heidrick & Struggles has been retained to find a permanent CEO.

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Fermi said the leadership changes are part of its "evolution" as it seeks to become a mature, established company positioned for long‑term, sustainable growth.