An image of mismanagement has halved Nissan’s share price in the past year
this week. On September 9th Hiroto Saikawa fell on his sword after he, like Mr Ghosn, faced accusations of financial impropriety. Last November Mr Saikawa, chief executive since Mr Ghosn stepped down from that role in 2017, had been instrumental in bringing accusations of financial misconduct against the Frenchman, who was voted off the board in April.
Mr Ghosn has been under house arrest since the spring, awaiting trial on multiple charges, including underreporting his compensation by about ¥9bn from 2010 to 2018. Nissan’s board this week put the cost of the Ghosn affair at ¥35bn. The charge against Mr Saikawa—that he improperly pocketed ¥47m in performance-linked bonuses—is peanuts by comparison.
Many shareholders wanted Mr Saikawa out for failing to heal the rift. Industry-watchers think a full Franco-Japanese merger makes sense in an industry dominated by giants like Toyota or Volkswagen, which churn out 10m cars a year and whose huge economies of scale leave more to invest in pricey electric and driverless technology. But Nissan, which makes more cars than Renault and resents the French claim on its profits, has resisted such a tie-up.
Correction : A previous version of this article named Mr Saikawa as Nissan’s chairman. He never held that post. Sorry
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