Riot Platforms loses chief data center officer; shares drop 7%

A Form 4 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows Jonathan Gibbs departed Riot Platforms effective April 12 and forfeited about 1.1 million unvested restricted shares, worth roughly $18.7 million. The company’s stock fell more than 7% to about $17 after the filing was made public.

Gibbs was hired in June 2025 as Riot’s first chief data center officer to lead a shift from Bitcoin mining to AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. His LinkedIn profile lists prior senior roles at Prime Data Centers and construction firm ARCO/Murray, where he oversaw large-scale data center design and development.

Riot began repurposing capacity at its Corsicana, Texas site for AI and HPC workloads earlier in 2025 and paused some planned mining expansion to preserve power for alternative uses. The company launched a data center partnership with AMD and reported revenue from those efforts, posting $647 million in annual revenue for 2025.

To fund infrastructure investments, Riot sold 3,778 bitcoin during the first quarter of 2026 for roughly $290 million and increased the amount of bitcoin pledged as collateral on its credit facilities.

The Form 4 did not provide reasons for Gibbs’ departure, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The forfeited shares reflect the unvested portion of his restricted stock award tied to his tenure.