Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance arrested under suspicions of under-reported earnings

[D13H4RD]

Maybe this might come as a bit of a shocker for some over here.

 

Carlos Ghosn, famously known for the turnaround of Nissan from near-bankruptcy to profitability, has recently been arrested on his return to Tokyo under suspicions on under-reported earnings.

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Nissan said its Chairman Carlos Ghosn has been placed under arrest after he allegedly violated Japanese financial law.

The auto giant said in an earlier statement Monday that "over many years" Ghosn and board director, Greg Kelly, had been under-reporting compensation amounts to the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report.

Nissan added that, in regards to Ghosn, "numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets." The company said Ghosn had also made inappropriate investments.

 

In a press conference Monday, Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa, said both men had been arrested and this Thursday he would propose to the Nissan Board of Directors to remove them from their roles.

The chief executive revealed that a whistle-blower had passed information to Nissan's auditors who then began a wider investigation. The evidence was then passed to Japan's public prosecutor.

This also calls into question the state of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, one of the largest in the world by volume.

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Ghosn is also the chairman and CEO Renault, and his arrest has thrown into question the future of the company's alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi. He is also chairman and CEO of the alliance.

Renault owns 43.4 percent of Nissan, while Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault, with no voting rights in a partnership that began in 1999. Since 2016, Nissan has held a 34 percent controlling stake in its smaller Japanese rival, Mitsubishi.

 

"While we view the allegations against Ghosn as a serious breach of shareholder trust in the senior leadership of not only Nissan but also the entire alliance, we find media headlines saying that the alliance may fall to be overly alarmist," Richard Hilgert, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said in a note.

"The scandal represents substantial key-man risk to the alliance but, in our opinion, the risk does not rise to the level of existential," he said.

Another analyst also told CNBC's that the alliance will likely continue despite Ghosn's arrest.

"Our belief is that the alliance will continue to pursue the joint activities," said Janet Lewis, head of industrials research, Asia, at Macquarie Capital Securities on "Squawk Box" Tuesday. "It did not depend on one person, there are hundreds of Renault and Mistubishi and Nissan employees working together on these projects."

"The degree of integration at lower levels is substantial, nobody wins if they decide to, to move away," she said.

While signs indicate that the alliance could continue under a different leader, Ghosn's arrest has surprised quite a number.

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"It's truly shocking," Rebecca Lindland, executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book, told CNBC's "Street Signs" Tuesday in response to the allegations against Ghosn.

"To see this, to hear this unfold. It's just, it's terrible," she added. "It's such ... a disgrace in many ways and such a waste of an incredible career."

Morningstar's Hilgert echoed Lindland's sentiment.

"The news was a complete shock to us," Hilgert said in his note. "We had respected Ghosn as an adept industry operator and credit him with an impressive turnaround at Nissan in the early 2000s, as well as building the Renault- Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance."

 

Source: CNBC

[voiha]

hm

[Syntaxvgm]

tech news. 

[D13H4RD]

14 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

tech news. 

I've seen news on Tesla quite frequently.

 

So I assumed we'd be interested in automotive stuff

[Shally]

This should happen to 90% of CEO's honestly. 

[Syntaxvgm]

25 minutes ago, D13H4RD said:

I've seen news on Tesla quite frequently.

 

So I assumed we'd be interested in automotive stuff

-Electric cars

-Cult of Elon

-Autopilot news often 

[kokakolia]

12 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

-Electric cars

-Cult of Elon

-Autopilot news often 

Cult of Elon

[bcredeur97]

Whatever it is, it's the Juke's fault.

[GoldenLag]

Carma runs you over

[EnergyEclipse]

2 hours ago, Shally said:

This should happen to 90% of CEO's honestly. 

[D13H4RD]

2 hours ago, Syntaxvgm said:

-Electric cars

-Cult of Elon

-Autopilot news often 

Mostly the Cult of Elon

[Commodus]

If there's a tech angle, it's that Ghosn championed the Leaf and other moves to electric cars in the whole Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi partnership.  The Leaf has long been the EV you get if you want something reasonably priced -- the only difference now is that you actually get decent range and a more 'normal' experience out of it.  Hell, my brother has one.

 

I don't think Ghosn being removed from the picture suddenly casts doubt on those basic EV plans -- it's really just a question of how soon all car makers drop fossil fuel vehicles, not "if."  But it does make me wonder if there will be a shift in strategy on the way there.

[Taf the Ghost]

Because of the Alliance, this is tech news, though a bit of an outlier one. Nissan is also a major battery manufacturer. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_Energy_Supply_Corporation

 

I'm not joking. So, this matters. Ghosn is a massively important figure in both Cars & Batteries, which is what makes this news pretty important. Also, and this is important, the Japanese authorities aren't known for pulling stunts with criminal law when it's really business leverage. This is probably pretty serious, which could cause a whole lot of problems.

[Castdeath97]

Serves him right for not making Mitsubishi make a new Evo.

[Guest]

Time for Peugeot to take over 

[Shreyas1]

So he's ghosn now, huh.

[D13H4RD]

1 hour ago, Castdeath97 said:

Serves him right for not making Mitsubishi make a new Evo.

Who knows? It might actually be in the plans. 

 

As a fucking crossover SUV

[RejZoR]

1 hour ago, Castdeath97 said:

Serves him right for not making Mitsubishi make a new Evo.

Mitsubishi is a weird thing these days anyway. They sacked Colt, Lancer hasn't been changed for like 8 years now, they turned a mini van Spacestar into a cheap and crappy supermini hatchback, sporty looking Eclipse into a weird SUV. It's like someone at Mitsubishi entirely lost their mind and still can't stop. I remember days when Colt and Lancer were seen on the streets like every 10th car almost. Now it's a miracle if you manage to see either of them. How can such legendary brand go down so badly...

[kokakolia]

1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

Mitsubishi is a weird thing these days anyway. They sacked Colt, Lancer hasn't been changed for like 8 years now, they turned a mini van Spacestar into a cheap and crappy supermini hatchback, sporty looking Eclipse into a weird SUV. It's like someone at Mitsubishi entirely lost their mind and still can't stop. I remember days when Colt and Lancer were seen on the streets like every 10th car almost. Now it's a miracle if you manage to see either of them. How can such legendary brand go down so badly...

TBH, Mitsubishi was always kinda garbage. They were known for bad transmissions and flimsy lightweight engines. They were always the Dodge/Chrysler of Japanese automobiles.  Yes, Hyundai was possibly on the same level of cheapness but they made so many improvements in the last 10 years. 

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, kokakolia said:

TBH, Mitsubishi was always kinda garbage. They were known for bad transmissions and flimsy lightweight engines. They were always the Dodge/Chrysler of Japanese automobiles.  Yes, Hyundai was possibly on the same level of cheapness but they made so many improvements in the last 10 years. 

People usually only like Mitsubishi for their performance cars

 

Like the Lancer Evolution and Galant VR-4