Nissan Chief Will Oversee A Troubled Japan Rival -- WSJ
October 20 2016 - 3:03AM
Dow Jones News
Carlos Ghosn expected to be named chairman of scandal-plagued
Mitsubishi Motors
By Sean McLain
TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn is set to
become chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Corp., putting him in charge
of three automobile makers, said people familiar with the
matter.
Osamu Masuko, currently Mitsubishi Motors' chairman, chief
executive and president, will relinquish the chairman's title once
Nissan acquires a controlling stake in the company. Nissan has
asked him to stay on as president, the people said. It was unclear
who would hold the CEO's title.
In May, Nissan said it would spend some $2 billion for a 34%
stake in Mitsubishi, which is struggling to recover from a scandal
in which employees falsified fuel-economy data.
On Wednesday, Mitsubishi cut its sales forecast for the year
ending March 2017 and projected a sharply higher loss of Yen240
billion yen ($2.3 billion) for the year owing in part to increased
costs from the scandal and slowing sales.
Nissan has said it plans to complete the acquisition of the
Mitsubishi stake by the end of the year, making the smaller auto
maker part of a global alliance centered around Nissan and Renault
SA. Mr. Ghosn also is chief executive of Renault.
Shares in Mitsubishi Motors rose 7.9% in Tokyo on Wednesday to
525 yen, its highest closing since June 23, as investors welcomed
the news, earlier reported by Japan's Nikkei newspaper, that Mr.
Ghosn would take a central role in guiding the auto maker's
recovery.
The Renault-Nissan model is being mimicked by other auto makers
eager to share development costs as sales growth slows around the
world. Toyota Motor Corp. and Suzuki Motor Corp. last week said
they were starting talks on a partnership that would share costs
for developing new automotive technologies such as self-driving
vehicles.
Analysts have expected Mr. Ghosn to take over the chairman job
at Mitsubishi since Nissan disclosed its intention to take a
controlling stake in the company. In June, Mr. Ghosn gave up the
chairman's role at OAO AvtoVAZ of Russia, which is part of the
Renault-Nissan alliance. That could allow him to devote more time
to Mitsubishi, said Takaki Nakanishi, a Tokyo-based auto analyst
who runs his own research firm.
Mr. Masuko, Mitsubishi's current chairman, previously hinted
that Mr. Ghosn would take his spot after the stake sale. He has
said that the 17-year-old Renault-Nissan Alliance has succeeded
where similar tie-ups failed because the same man was chairman of
the two companies.
Mr. Ghosn made his name as a cost-cutter for his efforts at
Renault and Nissan to close factories and break up close-knit
supplier networks.
At Mitsubishi, he faces a company that has been embroiled in
numerous scandals. Outside experts commissioned by the company
found a corporate culture that bent the rules to meet unrealistic
business targets and a management team disinterested in the more
mundane aspects of running of a car company.
Mr. Ghosn must find a way to get customers back into Mitsubishi
showrooms after the company temporarily withdrew some models hit by
the fuel-economy scandal.
Write to Sean McLain at sean.mclain@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 20, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)
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