D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS) stock tumbled 8% to $17.79 in midday trading Wednesday after the company disclosed its chief financial officer would retire next week.
The departure of CFO John Markovich, effective September 2, caught investors off guard and sent shares of peer quantum computing companies lower in sympathy trading.
IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) fell 3% to $40.68 as negative sentiment spread across the quantum computing sector following the D-Wave announcement.
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) declined 5% to $16.12, while Quantum Computing Inc. (NASDAQ: QUBT) slid 1% to $8.35, reflecting the broader sector pullback.
The Defiance Quantum ETF (NASDAQ: QTUM) fell only 0.4% to $148.27, suggesting markets viewed the event as largely company-specific rather than a sector-wide development.
Greg Golkov, senior vice president of finance since May 2023, will step in as acting chief financial officer and principal financial and accounting officer following Markovich’s exit.
Golkov brings more than 25 years of finance and accounting experience, previously serving as vice president and controller at Butterfly Network and senior vice president of finance at Kaseya.
D-Wave Quantum’s official release stated explicitly that the resignation was not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to its business, operations, accounting policies, practices, financial statements, disclosure controls and procedures, or internal control over financial reporting.
CEO Alan Baratz credited Markovich with a pivotal role in taking the company public in 2022, raising over $900 million in capital, and developing a path to profitability.
D-Wave Quantum stock was already down 26% year to date through Tuesday’s close, meaning today’s decline lands on a name that has been under sustained pressure throughout 2026.
The company’s market capitalization sits at $6.57 billion, compared to IonQ’s considerably larger $16.48 billion market cap, highlighting the size disparity within the sector.
At pre-profit companies like D-Wave Quantum, the finance seat carries more weight than at mature operators, since credibility around capital raises and the path to profitability runs directly through it.
D-Wave Quantum reported Q2 2026 revenue of $3.08 million, missing the $4.03 million analyst estimate, though remaining performance obligations reached $40.7 million, up 668% year over year.
By contrast, IonQ reported Q2 2026 revenue of $80.05 million, beating the $66.42 million consensus estimate, and raised its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to between $280 million and $290 million.
That stronger fundamental profile at IonQ helps explain why its sympathy decline of 3% is notably smaller than D-Wave Quantum’s primary 8% drop on the session.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA: SPY) remained unchanged at $765.57, underscoring that the selling pressure was concentrated in quantum names rather than the broader market.
D-Wave Quantum is the only company offering both annealing and gate-model quantum computing systems, serving more than 100 organizations and holding over 290 U.S. granted patents.
Investors watching the stock will be looking for confirmation that Golkov’s acting CFO role becomes permanent, which would remove one layer of uncertainty hanging over the name.
The company’s next major information point is its Q3 2026 earnings report, where management is expected to address capital planning and the path to profitability under new finance leadership.
With a beta of 2.16 and a 52-week range of $12.75 to $46.75, D-Wave Quantum remains one of the more volatile names in the speculative quantum computing basket.
