In Ghosn’s jet-set world, $120 mn fortune’s peanuts
NEWYORK: Handcuffed and wearing plastic slippers, Carlos Ghosn appeared in a Japanese court on Tuesday to rebuff prosecutors’ allegations of financial wrongdoing.
As he defended himself against charges he failed to disclose income from Nissan Motor Co., his sunken cheeks and graying hair underscored his downfall from the apex of the business world where he built a nine-figure fortune.
Ghosn, 64, amassed a net worth of about $120 million over the decades he spent atop the automotive industry, according to an analysis by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He owns about $60 million of shares in Nissan, Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Disclosed salaries and dividends over the years total another $60 million or so. Ghosn’s fortune could be even higher. The figure excludes compensation he received from Nissan before it was first disclosed in 2010, which could run into the tens of millions of dollars.
On Wednesday, the court rejected his appeal against the ongoing detention.
For most people, Ghosn’s fortune is an almost inconceivable level of wealth, and allegations that he would seek to bolster it might appear outlandish. But in the realm of superstar executives, a ninefigure fortune can seem like slim pickings.
His net worth pales when compared to some peers. The late Sergio Marchionne held shares of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ferrari and CNH Industrial worth a combined $486 million. Ghosn’s pay was lower than the heads of Ford Motor and Volkswagen.
There’s an even wider discrepancy outside the automotive world. Eleven executives at public US firms were awarded more than $100 million of compensation in 2017, according to the Bloomberg Pay Index. And Ghosn’s fortune is dwarfed by those of longtime banking executives such as Jpmorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon ($1.5 billion) and Goldman Sachs’s Lloyd Blankfein ($1.1 billion).
And $120 million only goes so far in the rarefied world of private jets and expensive homes that he inhabited.
Nissan provided Ghosn and his family with the use of properties from Brazil to France. Buying the five houses unearthed by Bloomberg would cost about $25 million. If Ghosn had to rely on his own plane rather than Nissan’s corporate jet, a preowned Gulfstream G650 would have set him back $40 to $60 million, according to Tim Barber of Duncan Aviation, assuming “he didn’t fancy splashing out $70 million for a new one”.
Such expenses underscore a widening wealth gap between the rich and the really rich, a little-seen realm where the elite level of service at some private banks is now the preserve of those with $1 billion. That disconnect offers one explanation for why Ghosn sought to bolster his pay and award himself lucrative post-retirement compensation.