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D-Wave Quantum shares fell 8% to $17.79 Wednesday after the company announced CFO John Markovich will retire effective September 2, triggering a 3% decline in rival IonQ. Greg Golkov, D-Wave’s senior vice president of finance since May 2023, will become acting CFO. The company stated the departure was not related to any disagreement over business, accounting, or financial reporting matters. Markovich had served five years, helping take D-Wave public in 2022 and raising over $900 million. The transition comes as D-Wave shares are down 26% year to date following disappointing Q2 results, though bookings surged 1,120% in the first half of 2026 and backlog rose 668%. Analysts maintain a Strong Buy consensus with an average price target of $35.73.
Key Elements
D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) shares plunged 8% to $17.79 in midday trading Wednesday after the Palo Alto-based company disclosed that Chief Financial Officer John Markovich will retire next week, a leadership change that sent ripples through the quantum-computing sector and dragged rival IonQ (IONQ) down 3% to $40.68.
D-Wave is one of the only quantum computing companies selling commercial systems built on two different architectures — quantum annealing and gate-model — a technical breadth its pure gate-model rivals such as IonQ and Rigetti do not match, on top of its cloud software and professional-services business.
The decline was confined to individual names rather than the broader quantum ecosystem. The Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM) slipped just 0.4% to $148.27, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) held flat at $765.57, confirming that the selloff stemmed from D-Wave-specific concerns rather than a sector-wide rout.
The sympathy selling stretched well beyond IonQ. Rigetti Computing (RGTI) fell 5% to $16.12 — a steeper drop than IonQ’s — while Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT) slipped a milder 1% to $8.35. The uneven magnitude suggests investors treated the leadership change as company-specific risk that still bled into peers closest in scale and business model, even as diversified quantum-exposure vehicles like QTUM barely moved.
| Ticker | Name | Move | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| QBTS | D-Wave Quantum | -8% | $17.79 |
| RGTI | Rigetti Computing | -5% | $16.12 |
| IONQ | IonQ | -3% | $40.68 |
| QUBT | Quantum Computing Inc. | -1% | $8.35 |
| QTUM | Defiance Quantum ETF | -0.4% | $148.27 |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 0% | $765.57 |
Wednesday, Aug. 26 intraday moves. QTUM and SPY are shown for scale, not as sympathy movers.
Markovich, who has served as CFO for five years, will step down effective September 2. Greg Golkov, the company’s senior vice president of finance since May 2023, will assume the role of acting CFO and principal financial and accounting officer.
The company emphasized that Markovich’s departure was not tied to any disagreement involving D-Wave’s business, operations, accounting policies, financial statements, disclosure controls, or internal controls over financial reporting. That language aimed to reassure investors that the transition does not signal an accounting or reporting problem.
CEO Alan Baratz credited Markovich with playing a pivotal role in taking D-Wave public in 2022 and raising more than $900 million in capital. “I want to thank John for his partnership and wish him the very best in his retirement,” Baratz said in the company’s announcement.
Golkov brings more than 25 years of finance and accounting experience across publicly traded and private equity-backed technology companies. He is a CPA and holds a bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining D-Wave, he served as vice president and controller at Butterfly Network (BFLY) from October 2020 to March 2023, where he helped lead the company’s transition to public company reporting. Before that, he was senior vice president of finance at Kaseya from August 2018 to October 2020.
His current remit at D-Wave already covers accounting, SEC reporting, financial planning and analysis, treasury, and tax, making the internal handoff relatively seamless. Still, the appointment carries a caveat: Golkov is being named acting CFO rather than permanent CFO, leaving open the question of D-Wave’s longer-term finance leadership.
| Markovich (outgoing) | Golkov (acting) | |
|---|---|---|
| D-Wave role & tenure | CFO since Sept. 2021 | SVP of Finance since May 2023 |
| Years in finance | 30+ | 25+ |
| Prior finance roles | CFO at EMCORE, NanoH2O, Veritone, OmniGuide, Xant | Controller, Butterfly Network (2020-23); SVP Finance, Kaseya (2018-20) |
| Credentials | — | CPA; B.S., Wharton School (Penn) |
| Signature achievement at D-Wave | Led 2022 public listing; raised $900M+ | Built out SEC reporting, FP&A, treasury, tax |
| Status effective Sept. 2 | Retires | Named acting, not permanent |
A Stock Already Under Pressure
The CFO transition lands at a delicate moment for D-Wave. Shares were down 26% year to date through Tuesday’s close, and the company’s Q2 2026 results missed Wall Street expectations. Revenue came in at $3.08 million, essentially flat from $3.10 million a year earlier and below the roughly $4.03 million consensus estimate. The adjusted loss of $0.10 per share also fell short of the expected $0.09 loss.
Yet beneath those disappointing headline numbers, commercial momentum has been building. Bookings surged 59% year-over-year to $2.1 million in Q2, while first-half bookings jumped more than 1,120% to $35.5 million. Backlog rose 668% to $40.7 million over the same period. Commercial revenue represented roughly 62% of total revenue for the quarter, up 45% from the prior-year period, and production applications accounted for more than 37% of quantum computing as a service revenue in the first half of 2026, nearly quadruple their share from a year earlier.
| Q2 2026 metric | Actual | Vs. consensus / prior year |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.08M | Consensus ~$4.03M; flat vs. $3.10M (Q2 2025) |
| Adjusted EPS | -$0.10 | Consensus -$0.09 |
| Bookings (Q2) | $2.1M | +59% YoY |
| Bookings (H1 2026) | $35.5M | +1,120% YoY |
| Backlog | $40.7M | +668% YoY |
| Commercial revenue share | ~62% of total | +45 pct. pts YoY |
The company served more than 100 customers in the first half of the year, a significant development for an industry that has traditionally relied on a small number of lucrative contracts.
Analyst Sentiment Remains Constructive
Wall Street analysts have maintained a Strong Buy consensus rating on QBTS, based on 15 Buy ratings and one Hold over the past three months. The average price target of $35.73 implies roughly 85% upside from current levels, suggesting that analysts view the CFO transition as a manageable disruption rather than a fundamental setback.
Still, D-Wave’s beta of 2.16 and its pre-profit stage make the CFO seat particularly critical for a company navigating the capital-intensive quantum computing landscape. Investors will be watching closely to see whether Golkov can maintain the fundraising momentum that Markovich established, and whether the acting title becomes permanent.
IonQ’s sympathy decline reflects the sector’s sensitivity to leadership news at its most visible players. With a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, IonQ is more than twice the size of D-Wave, whose market cap sits at $6.57 billion, yet the smaller company’s news was enough to pull the larger one lower.
For now, the company has provided no indication of an accounting problem or broader management dispute. The bigger question for shareholders is whether the change in finance leadership affects D-Wave’s ability to execute on the financial plan that management says is intended to move the company toward profitability.
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