Carlos Ghosn Planned to Replace Nissan CEO Before His Arrest
December 09 2018 - 5:09AM
Dow Jones News
By Sean McLain
TOKYO-- Nissan Motor Co.'s Carlos Ghosn was planning to replace
Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa before Mr. Ghosn's arrest in
Tokyo last month, according to people with knowledge of the
plan.
Mr. Ghosn was arrested Nov. 19 after his private plane touched
down in Tokyo. Prosecutors say they suspect Mr. Ghosn underreported
his compensation in Nissan financial reports. Mr. Ghosn hasn't been
charged with any crime and denies wrongdoing, according to Japanese
public broadcaster NHK. The office of Mr. Ghosn's lawyer, Motonari
Otsuru, has declined to comment.
Mr. Saikawa couldn't be reached for comment. He has said he is
focused on improving Nissan's profitability over the longer term,
and that has resulted in sales declines in the U.S. this year.
At the time of his arrest, Mr. Ghosn was Nissan's chairman and
still seen as the ultimate decision maker although he gave up the
chief executive's role at Nissan in 2017.
Mr. Ghosn had planned for months to shake up the senior
management ranks at Nissan and had made known his plans to replace
Mr. Saikawa, the people said. Any change in top management would
have required board approval.
One of the people said that Mr. Ghosn told some associates he
wanted to carry out his plan at a Nissan board meeting in
November.
Instead, the board unanimously voted on Nov. 22 to remove Mr.
Ghosn as chairman. He remains a Nissan director.
Mr. Ghosn was displeased with Mr. Saikawa's decision-making and
frequently took him to task for the company's recent struggles in
the U.S. among other reasons, people familiar with the disputes
said.
One person familiar with the relationship between Messrs. Ghosn
and Saikawa said the two men had differences over the business, but
this person didn't think it had reached a point where Mr. Ghosn
would have contemplated removing Mr. Saikawa.
A Tokyo court has approved Mr. Ghosn's detention through Monday.
Prosecutors must decide by that day whether to indict Mr. Ghosn
over the suspicions they initially cited in arresting him or
release him. They could also opt to restart the detention clock by
citing different suspicions as a basis to detain Mr. Ghosn.
Write to Sean McLain at sean.mclain@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 09, 2018 04:54 ET (09:54 GMT)
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