GHOSN GONE AS MITSUBISHI JOINS NISSAN IN OUSTING CHAIRMAN.
TOKYO • Within a week of his arrest, Carlos Ghosn, a towering figure in the auto industry, has been removed as chairman by two of the carmakers in a three-way global alliance.
The board of Mitsubishi
Motors Corp. ousted the 64-year-old on Monday, following in the steps of its biggest shareholder, Nissan Motor Co. In contrast to Ghosn’s swift removal by the Japanese firms, France’s Renault SA has kept him on, while replacing him temporarily as chief executive officer.
The downfall of Ghosn, who built the alliance between Renault and Nissan, looks set to ignite a power struggle as the Japanese partner seeks to strengthen its position. The Franco-Brazilian executive, accused of understating his income and misusing Nissan’s assets, has denied wrongdoing, according to NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster. The board of Mitsubishi, the newest member of the world’s biggest auto alliance, voted unanimously to remove him, a company filing showed.
“Continuing to keep Ghosn as our chairman would present a reputational risk to our company,” CEO Osamu Masuko told reporters, echoing remarks from Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa last week. “I was honestly, absolutely shocked and struck with a sense of disbelief ” at the allegations against him, he said. Masuko will take on the additional role of chairman.
The offences Ghosn is accused of carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, Japanese prosecutors say. He remains in detention.
With Ghosn gone, Nissan’s Saikawa is already plotting a review of the alliance to make it more equitable, according to people familiar with the plans. Renault owns about 43 per cent of Nissan with voting rights, while the latter holds a 15 per cent non-voting stake in the French company. After turning around Renault and a teetering Nissan in the late 1990s, Ghosn added the beleaguered Mitsubishi Motors to the group in 2016.
“Mitsubishi is firmly in the Nissan camp, because Nissan is their main shareholder,” said Janet Lewis, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities in Tokyo. “Masuko has made it clear the future of the alliance is important to them and they will go along with supporting Nissan.”
The three carmakers are due to meet in Amsterdam this week.