Why C3.ai Stock Plummeted Today

Key Points

• C3.ai stock sank today after the company announced that it had started looking for its next CEO.

• Tom Siebel founded C3.ai and has been its CEO ever since, but he is stepping back from the role due to health reasons.

• Wedbush Morgan thinks that Siebel's exit from the CEO position increases the chances that C3.ai will be acquired.

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C3.ai (NYSE: AI) stock got hit with big sell-offs today after the company announced a major leadership change. The company's share price ended the daily session down 10.8%

C3.ai announced today that CEO Tom Siebel would be stepping down and that the company was in the process of looking for its next chief executive. With today's pullback, the company's stock is down roughly 24.5% across 2025's trading.

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C3.ai stock sank following news of Siebel's exit

C3.ai published a press release today announcing that it had begun looking for a successor for CEO Tom Siebel. Due to health reasons, Siebel will be stepping down. Siebel founded the company in 2009, but he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease earlier this year and has been dealing with visual impairment issues that are causing him to step down from the company's head leadership role.

What's next for C3.ai?

Wedbush Morgan published new coverage on C3.ai today and stated that Siebel stepping down from the CEO role was a net negative and that the leadership transition increases the chances that the company will be acquired within the next three to 12 months. On the other hand, Wedbush maintained an outperform rating on the stock and kept a one-year price target of $35 per share. The price target implies upside of roughly 35% compared to the stock's valuation at today's market close.

Despite strong valuation tailwinds for many artificial intelligence (AI) stocks this year, C3.ai has seen significant pullbacks across 2025's trading. Sales increased roughly 36% year over year to hit $108.7 million in the fourth quarter of the company's last fiscal year, which ended April 30, but performance for its shares has lagged behind other big AI names due to profitability concerns.

Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends C3.ai. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.