The ancient Greek tragedians would have made much of this character – or Shakespeare. Maybe no less a hand can do him justice. Macbeth, Oedipus, Ghosn. Few have risen higher, few fallen lower. That’s tragedy. Greatness is self-destructive.
Carlos Ghosn was a corporate wizard, a magician. One failing company after another he “turned around,” returned to profitability: Michelin, Renault, Nissan. He was wise like Oedipus, ambitious like Macbeth – and where is he now?
In Beirut, Lebanon, a fugitive. Everyone knows his story. Nissan, one of Japan’s big three automakers, had been given up for moribund when he took over as chief operating officer in 1999. It was 2 trillion yen in debt; its cars were not selling; “hopeless” was the general prognosis; who was fool enough to defy such odds? Ghosn. He was then Renault’s chief executive officer. Renault purchased a large stake in Nissan. Ghosn became Nissan’s chief operating officer. Give me a year, he said in effect. He would resign if he failed to make it profitable.
He was signing his death warrant, skeptics said. We who know how the story ends (if it has ended!) smile at the irony. Death indeed – the ultimate price of the immortality he won for himself. But back then his fall was far in the future. He had much higher to rise first. And rise he did – taking Nissan with him.
One satisfaction he can claim now in defeat, a kind of consolation prize: Nissan has fared badly since his ouster. Under post-Ghosn management it flounders on. Recent talks of a tie-up with rival Honda broke down over Honda’s condition that Nissan accept more or less subsidiary status. Some at least saw the merger – barring the advent of a Carlos the Second (but who can second a Carlos Ghosn?) – as a last hope. What now? That is what Shukan Post (Feb. 28 – March 7) seeks to know from Ghosn in a remote interview, Ghosn seated apparently at ease in his study at home in Beirut. At ease? At home? He’s currently appealing a Lebanese court order that he vacate the $19 million property, on which it says he’s trespassing. For the fallen great, there’s no end to falling.
“As sharp-tongued as ever,” is Shukan Post’s impression. He charges his successors with lacking vision, decision, clarity, judgment, insight. “All the work I and my team did there over 18 years is wasted,” he says bitterly – perhaps with a secret bitter satisfaction?
He’s optimistic in the long run. Inadequate managers come and go; better may come along. As for himself – a victim, he says (not unreasonably, say more than a few others), of Japan’s “corrupt” justice system – he anticipates ultimate vindication. “There is no problem that human beings can create that they cannot solve,” he tells Shukan Post. Nissan, he says, must not surrender to despair; nor will he. “There is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Also darkness in the midst of light. Few lights shone brighter than his. He had assumed an impossible task, defied impossible odds, steamrollered irresistible resistance, and prevailed. He was as ruthless as he felt his mission required him to be. He cut 21,000 jobs (14 percent of Nissan’s workforce) while paying himself an annual salary estimated to have peaked at close to a billion yen; he shut down five plants; he abolished traditional age-based promotion, trashed traditional lifetime employment. He made many enemies. The leader not prepared to do that is not suited for leadership, he would surely say. He was suited. He did it. He triumphed.
At the peak of his fame, at the height of his glory, it all came crashing down on him. Suddenly he was in handcuffs, off to jail. Arrested in November 2018 on charges of financial malfeasance, he was to spend 108 days behind bars, his applications for bail persistently denied, rearrested on charge after charge, held under conditions more than a few said mocked Japan’s claim to be a respecter of human rights. Bail granted at last, he was released, if the strict surveillance imposed permits one to speak of “release.”
The drama had scarcely begun. In December 2019 he vanished, resurfacing days later in Beirut – he’d been stuffed into a crate and carried onto a private jet by hired operatives who got him through customs – because, fantastic though it sounds, the crate was too big to x-ray.
“I have no regrets regarding my escape,” he tells Shukan Post. “The treatment I received at the hands of prosecutors was cruel, inhuman and unfair. I knew I was liable to be rearrested at any time. There was no alternative but to get out of the reach of Japan’s corrupt justice system.”
And if you were still in charge at Nissan? the magazine asks.
What would he do? He mentions a name that resonates way beyond its three syllables: "My friend Elon Musk.”
Musk’s astonishing career is well known – what entrepreneur’s better? Donald Trump’s, maybe. Musk is the world’s richest man, Trump the most powerful; Trump president of the United States, Musk his cost-cutter- and firer-in-chief. Whether Ghosn as Nissan’s Musk would be good for the company in the long run or not, this much at least is certain: there must be many Nissan employees breathing a sigh of relief that he is where he is and not where he might be otherwise.
Michael Hoffman is the author of “Arimasen.”
© Japan Today
58 Comments
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kibousha
LOL, ketamine-charged dude to save Nissan, with the only strategy they know, "fire everyone, give bonuses to self."
Sure
semperfi
.
Exactly, kibousha.
Nissans problems stem back to with Ghosn's mismanagement, and the surreptitious systematic financial misconduct connected with him not only with Nissan but with Renault.
BigP
What does he need to vacate his home?
sakurasuki
@kibousha
Check again the fact, in 1999 that company face bankruptcy. Not firing everyone but some people need to be layoff.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jan-31-fi-3405-story.html
sakurasuki
@semperfire
Check again, when the years Ghosn being removed by the coup.
https://www.wardsauto.com/nissan/ghosn-details-1-1-billion-suit-over-nissan-coup-
Ghosn removed in November, 2018 and now it's 2025, it almost been 7 years, let's say that company troubled because Ghosn. That company should do really well after Ghosn is no longer in leadership. However that's no the case in fact that never happened, that company doing well when Ghosn ran that company. Stock price got the higher, only when he was in leadership.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/7201.T/
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Car sales also slump after Ghosn left.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Nissan-crisis-3.0-Strategic-error-leads-to-sales-slump-in-U.S
Still blame that to Ghosn?
Meiyouwenti
What was self-destructive was Ghosn’s own decision to jump the ball and flee to Lebanon. If he thinks he was such a man of vision and insight, he should have fought in Japanese court to clear his name.
sakurasuki
@Meiyouwenti
He wasn't try to run justice, he tried to escape injustice.
https://weekly-economist.mainichi.jp/articles/20250204/se1/00m/020/066000d
https://theconversation.com/why-carlos-ghosns-allegation-of-an-unfair-japanese-justice-system-is-unjustified-130563
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Just look Greg Kelly, after 7 years he still fighting injustice
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Tokyo-high-court-upholds-suspended-sentence-for-ex-Nissan-exec-Kelly
.
Just check Hakamata's case how long does it take for him to be proven not guilty, from 1966 to 2024.
That's 58 years
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/09/26/japan/crime-legal/hakamata-retrial-ruling/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/10/09/japan/crime-legal/hostage-justice/
Sh1mon M4sada
Yeah, and the opinion of a fugitive is going to...count for nothing. He had a chance to develop the Leaf, instead let it wilt on the vines. IMHO, once a gaslighter, always will be gaslighter.
Noone1
Give him a month and watch what happens. Look at Tesla. Dumpsterfire.
zulander
... I take it you aren't familiar with Japanese court, where the truth doesnt really matter so much
Mocheake
The people who don't like Ghosn because he is not Japanese and because of the way he left will never give him credit for anything. However, look at Nissan right before he arrived and since he's been gone: a total mess with no clear path to being successful. It says a lot. Those at the top are probably still getting their fat checks and bonuses while the company founders for years on end. At least he produced good results and no matter your disdain, that fact is undeniable.
リッチ
He foreigner who saved a Japanese company and they set him up to take it back to Japanese management and now IE. No one wants them.
BeerDeliveryGuy
Ghosn sold Nissan’s integrity and innovation for a short term profit that wouldn’t have lasted.
There is a reason a 1998 GTR is priced higher than a 2007 model.
Cfields
Classic “Nissan has fared badly since his ouster.”
Note, Ghosn will not be coming back to save Nissan. Honda was an option, but they declined.
Elon Musk, why should he be interested in Nissan? Better to have Musk collaborate with Japan’s Space Exploration program. That’s really our future as a planet.
gsa
Not every battle needs to be fought. Ghosn did the right thing and get himself out of injustice system, not that he is innocent or not.
Because of interest as well as perhaps being located in Japan, some readers puts too much emphasis on Japan itself. It has close to no weight around the world. Most people don't care about Japan except few Japan obsessed folks who does not matter much in their own society for the same reason.
The only selling point for Japan in the west today is to have something to counter China. Otherwise it is a country to go play around a bit as a tourist and then forget.
nickybutt
Greed was his downfall. He is in a prison of his own making. Disgraced forever.
DanteKH
To be honest, Ghosn was always a diabolical person, however he did resurrect Nissan from bankruptcy.
The he was axed in the most callously way possible while being served a 3rd world country justice with zero chance for a fair trial. We get it, he was a bad person. But the way was treated by Nissan in cohorts with the extremely corrupt Japanese "Justice" system was only possible in complete failed countries such as NK, Russia or the instable African countries...
WA4TKG
Waiting for this to show up at The Hague, where I mentioned it would, if “Justice” is ever to be served…still waiting.
Redtail Swift
Carlos Ghosn is and was the hero of Nissan. It's only so convenient to not live and work in Japan and then try to deem Ghosn a criminal. Japanese companies are watching their bottom line all the time. Ghosn didn't transfer money to himself, they did. They always knew.
Let Nissan go the way of the Dodo bird. Japan doesn't need Nissan. I've never owned one and I'll never buy one. You reap what you sow.
Aly Rustom
At the peak of his fame, at the height of his glory, it all came crashing down on him. Suddenly he was in handcuffs, off to jail.
That's the scary part.
Arrested in November 2018 on charges of financial malfeasance, he was to spend 108 days behind bars, his applications for bail persistently denied, rearrested on charge after charge, held under conditions more than a few said mocked Japan’s claim to be a respecter of human rights.
Japan does not respect human rights. Period.
THIS!!! Excellent post Mocheake!
Exactly!
Hear! Hear!
masterblaster
Whatever crime Ghosn may have done or didn't do or whatever crime he did on his own or had help from Japanese employees is not important now.
In terms of success, Nissan was saved by Ghosn's management. And his management was ended by nationalistic employees jealous of his success.
Since he left (fled), the company has returned to a perilous state. Can't blame him now. Nissan management is full of individuals that are not up to the task of managing.
And it is the workers designing the cars, assembling the cars and selling the cars that suffer from the management's inefficient leadership.
grc
I cannot believe the revisionism that’s going on here
grund
Elon Musk only has like five companies to run besides slashing and burning the US government, so I am sure he has plenty of time to help turn around Japans second biggest car maker. They should give him a call.
nandakandamanda
Nissan has made some wonderfully innovative cars, which we are all aware of, but also some dire ones. Schizophrenic company.
They invited Ghosn in, and agreed to his salary demands, but perhaps they should have set stricter conditions on him first. It sounds as if some members of the board continue today to suggest one thing, like this merger with Honda, and then others suggest just the opposite. Running an uncoordinated three-legged race, eh? Maybe they really do need a dictator there rather than a democracy.
Aly Rustom
Exactly!
rainyday
If the purpose of Nissan is to make its cars so reviled that people are embarrassed to drive them then absolutely yes, Musk is the go-to guy for that.
Ricky Kaminski13
I can’t help thinking that this article is an attempt to line up the usual haters towards Ghosn now , by conjuring the link to their arch nemesis the Muskman. It would be an easy task to do too, cause the eat-the-rich crowd all move and think in unison when they smell the blood of a high performer. It’s deep down in the subconscious but it’s ever present.
Ghosn showed a mirror to Japanese corporate culture, offered simple solutions that no one had ever dared to even try, produced stunning results in productivity and minimalising waste, thrived, and then was taken down because they didn’t like what he had shown them in the mirror.
It really is a story for the ages and the reference to Shakespeare and Greek tragedies at the start was worthy. The musk injection at the end though, just another cheap thief-in-the night attempt to spread their bitter bias.
rainyday
And the usual lovers of all things Ghosn tend to downplay the fact that, while many inside Nissan obviously had their knives out against him, he almost certainly did commit the things he was accused of and which led to his downfall. He hid his compensation from shareholders and engaged in some egregious conflict of interest transactions that would be serious corporate governance problems in any country.
Also, its inaccurate to say that Japanese corporate culture didn't like what Ghosn showed them "in the mirror". Once he started showing results at Nissan he became extremely popular and was lionized in the business and popular press here. It wasn't the things that he did to help turn Nissan around - which really were different from Japanese corporate norms - that led to his downfall, it was the above noted bad stuff he did - none of which had anything to do with productivity or improving results.
isabelle
Starts off with a debate-worthy point...
...then destroys any credibility with this.
TokyoLiving
Coward criminal fugitive..
Alexey Kardo
The commentators here need a financial and historical lesson.
Japanese owners never saw profit all 1990s, and people only bought 2.4 million Nissan cars annually.
With Ghosn, it became over 5 million cars every year, and dozens of billions $$$ earned for stockholders and Japanese budget.
2000s (the Ghosn era): Nissan owners earned (and shared with Renault) about $40-50 BILLION dollars in 2000-2019.See the charts below.
https://i.ibb.co/5h5DBMBQ/Screenshot-1187.png
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Nissan-reports-6.2bn-annual-net-loss-worst-in-20-years
Moreover, only during Ghosn’s leadership Japanese government has received profit taxes from Nissan, also billions.
1990s: losses almost every year, over $10+ billion LOST total in 1990s , and no profit taxes for Japanese budget.Ghosn started at fall of 1999 (the year when Nissan lost 6 billion). Next year, Nissan made their best profit in 20 years.
https://i.ibb.co/0pZCcrTz/Screenshot-1188.png
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Majid-A-Dehkordi/publication/353143497/figure/fig17/AS:1043978296234006@1625915230715/Nissans-annual-Net-income-and-loss-in-billions-Yen-Nissan-annual-reports-1996-1999.ppm
So it’s by far not just “improvement” Ghosn made, but before him, Nissan owners didn’t even know how to spell words “profit” and “dividends”.
Under Ghosn, Nissan started making cars that people WANTED to buy: sales grew 116% between 1999 and 2014. Its that simple: make the cars people want - and you ll make moneyNissan global sales:
2.4 million cars in 1999
3.5 millions in 2007
4 million in 2010
5.2 million in 2014 (+116% growth to 1999)https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/DOCUMENT/PDF/AR/1999/ar1999.pdf
https://www.oica.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/nissan_prod.pdf
https://www.statista.com/statistics/198875/motor-vehicle-production-of-nissan-worldwide-since-1999/
Product-wise, Ghosn changed everything
Launched then-revolutionary crossovers Qashqai/Rogue models, plus more expensive Murano, Infiniti FX lineups. It is now common that everyone makes crossovers. But only Nissan had THREE in 2000s.
Launched the eye-catching Primera with then-revolutionary center dashboard (compare with the previous Primera, Almera, Maxima lineup, which represented the "different-length sausages" approach) , which became a hit in Europe
revived multiple amazing models like GT-R (which took on Porsche 911 turbo) and 350Z,
Launched Nissan’s first full size Titan pickups, made Infiniti’s flagship QX56/80, an SUV with the best car-like handling on market, most power and most sophisticated, fully independent suspension compared to its biggest rival, Toyota/Lexus.The result was 5 million cars sold annually by 2014, compared to 2.4 in 1999.
Cost cuts: actually even MORE jobs, at double efficiencyPeople often misunderstand “cost cuts” as firings of ordinary workers
in reality, most savings are made on:
Savings on R&D and components production by smart sharing between modes
combination of acquisition channels (in this case, with Renault), to improve discounts from suppliers and by limiting variety of components (I wouldn’t be surprised if from 2019, Nissan’s new Japanese management started choosing suppliers but by efficiency but by location / friendship considerations);
cutting lavish marketing expenses with no direct effect;
cutting management expenses when there are departments, which basically do nothing and/or can be automated with sophisticated software, etc.
Helping employees do more with less effort: smart organization, more sophisticated software, more robots etc.Employees? The total number of Nissan employees actually INCREASED a little in 18 years. (While the sales DOUBLED - imagine efficiency per employee)
1999: 131,000 employees and Nissanhttps://www.nissan-global.com/EN/DOCUMENT/PDF/AR/1998/ar1998.pdf (page 18)
2017: 138,000 employeeshttps://www.nissan-global.com/EN/DOCUMENT/PDF/AR/2018/AR18_E_All.pdf (page 4)
In conclusion. I am 100% sure that the only problem the Japanese owners saw was "wow, $6 billion a year, and it looks easy to make, we want to be managers and to be called Genius managers too!"
Welcome back to reality.
Nissan’s Japanese owners and Japanese government were money-losers all 1990s.
They were enjoying doubled sales and almost two decades of billions net income thanks to Ghosn.
Not they are back to 1990s, they have no dividends, no profit taxes to collect, and no idea how to make people want to buy their cars more. And bankruptcy and firing of over 100,000 employees in sight, or a cheap sale with huge discount to Chinese.
Japanese investors approved these changes. Japanese government decided not to intervene and keep slightest decency to work in civilized manner.
Now all consequences are their own.
Ironically (but wisely) they have now again hired a foreign manager to run the company. Hope this will save the company. And I hope the manager won’t have to escape in a box…
Alexey Kardo
@rainyday
even if he did bend rules,
a) he earned Nissan’s owners and Japanese government $50+ billions while they had NOTHING during all 90s
https://i.ibb.co/0pZCcrTz/Screenshot-1188.png
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Majid-A-Dehkordi/publication/353143497/figure/fig17/AS:1043978296234006@1625915230715/Nissans-annual-Net-income-and-loss-in-billions-Yen-Nissan-annual-reports-1996-1999.ppm
A wise owner if you had such an employee who saved your company and made you billions, could discuss it first with him, and actually maybe increase his income and motivate him more.
By the way, the case says, that after all investigation of almost 20 years of Ghosn’s management, all they amount they could complain about reporting was about $60-80 million (or $3-4 millions a year). For example, Stellantis’s CEO made $30 EACH year and ran Stellantis into losses.
There is a saying in Russia, “don’t get choked with your feel of righteousness”.
I guess Japanese owners achieved just that
b) The case was biased to such an extent that in WHOLE corporation, with thousands of employees, dozens of supervisors, multiple departments, aside from Ghosn, they only convicted ONE employee: Greg Kelly… for 6 months suspended verdict. So the “crime” wasn’t even big enough for real jail time.
And even then he managed to win an appeal. In Japan(!).
https://asiatimes.com/2025/02/how-japan-appeals-court-rubber-stamped-kelly-verdict-in-ghosn-case/#
Even more interesting, who was a witness? Wasn’t there a co-conspirators? Yes there were. Two Japanese supervisors! Who, the case says, backdated some documents personally…. Yet there were not indicted!
“Documents reveal that Shiga and Koeda worked with Ohnuma to come up with the plan. Two weeks later on April 14, Ohnuma prepared a spreadsheet for Ghosn, which Ghosn signed off on and which Ohnuma then backdated to March 24.
Specifically, the spreadsheet was not proposed by Kelly, but by two Japanese executives (Shiga and Koeda) who were not indicted. We have asked the Tokyo prosecutor’s office to comment about why they targeted only a non-Japanese. There’s been no response yet.”
https://www.autonews.com/nissan/an-nissan-carlos-ghosn-greg-kelly-criminal-appeal-trial/
it all looks pretty much like a coup, orchestrated by mediocre managers / owners who thought they could run a hugely successful company overturned my a genius CEO from a money-loser.
Seeing the consequences they have now is sad (I actually had and loved Nissan Maxima, it was my 2nd car I’ve even owned, and might but the qx80 now, too), but somewhat satisfying: if you don’t respect talent and the man who saved your company and benefits your country with employees- and profit taxes, you deserve consequences.
i hope both Nissan owners and Japanese government will learn some lesson.
rainyday
Not "bend", "broke".
I'm not defending Nissan, but the fact is that for all the good Ghosn did for the company (and yes, he did turn it around from bankruptcy and save it), he still broke some rather serious rules. He was usually one of the top three highest paid executives in Japan, if he had been satisfied with that he'd probably still be working there.
sakurasuki
@rainyday
If he can make a real difference why he need to be paid average like other execs that only deliver unsatisfied result like in most J Inc? As long he can bring what he promised, he entitled for that paid, in fact shareholder meeting every year up to 2018, let him kept his position.
robert maes
Thank you Mr Kardo.
if you are in Japan, keep an airline ticket close.
great posts but you will not be thanked for them
sakurasuki
@rainyday
No, it's only unfixed compensation plan, not being decided, not being paid.
Even Japanese law professor couldn't find where the illegality of that.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/japan-prosecutors-say-ghosn-said-nissan-pay-plan-was-not-set/articleshow/82543443.cms
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What he told, he might go to advisory position after retirement with payment from that compensation, which basically similar like most of amakudari position in Japan.
rainyday
That is incorrect. The professor cited in the article you linked simply said it should be punished by a fine rather than prison time. In other words, he acknowledges it was illegal, but is disputing the punishment.
Article 361 of the Companies Act requires director compensation be approved by the shareholders meeting, and Securities regulations require all compensation for executives earning over 100 million Yen also be disclosed, and this includes deferred compensation (what Ghosn was trying to conceal).
While one can certainly argue that the case shouldn’t have been treated as a criminal matter, I don’t know of any corporate law scholars who would argue that executives should be able to hide income through murky secret agreements with their companies that are solely intended to let them avoid the above rules that are meant to protect shareholders.
Amakudari is hardly a good practice to be holding up in his defence.
He wasn’t getting “paid average” - the compensation he was receiving “on the books” made him one of the highest (in several years the highest) executive in all of Japan.
Alexey Kardo
@rainyday
Every man is innocent until proven guilty.
We can still appreciate results alreadyMishandling a case for millions at a super successful company at the cost of losing the company and hundreds of billions is sheer idiocy.
It should’ve been handled responsibly — by owners overseeing 130K employees, banks owed $50B, investors with $30B at stake, and the government benefiting from Nissan’s profits and taxes.
They could talk, they could negotiate, they could run it over with Renault (and they had too, if they respected them as investors and co-owners). They could handle their company gently.
Instead, they burned the house, everything down over a “scratched door.” Ghosn doubled sales, earned about $50 billions for shareholders, and fueled Japan’s economy. Now, Nissan is on the brink:
— 130,000 jobs at risk
— Banks may lose $50B
— Investors lost $20B in value
— probably another $50B in profit could be earned in the next 10 years with Ghosn, as he had been doing in 2000-2018.
— The government may have to clean up the mess
“Bad” Ghosn brought prosperity.
The “good” managers ran everything into the ground. This disaster isn’t on him.
kurisupisu
Isn’t it time to move on?
Alexey Kardo
@robert Mae’s Thank you!
It’s just for the good of people. You can’t reach prosperity if you don’t analyze the facts that lead to disaster objectively.
HopeSpringsEternal
Musk has ZERO interest in wasting his time with Nissan, a failed Industrial "project' of the Japanese Govt.
If Ghosn had prevailed and not been arrested, the Nissan shareholders today, if assumed a Renault share performance, would have stock more valuable than Honda today, or some 5x more valuable than Nissan
Likely a Renault Nissan with Ghosn at the helm merger would have created far more value (and JOBS!).
Japanese Bureaucrats, like with their lovely tariffs, deliver their citizens more economic destruction, well done!
rainyday
He seems to have zero interest in wasting his time with any of his companies these days.
Alexey Kardo
Former 10 years of Nissan's management 1990-1998: all years but two with losses, over 10 billion lost, including staggering 6 billion in 1999
https://i.ibb.co/0pZCcrTz/Screenshot-1188.png
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Majid-A-Dehkordi/publication/353143497/figure/fig17/AS:1043978296234006@1625915230715/Nissans-annual-Net-income-and-loss-in-billions-Yen-Nissan-annual-reports-1996-1999.ppm
Alexey Kardo
@sakurasi wow thank you for wise comments!
I’m somewhat surprised the forum here is so anti-fact.
What else could people need to see that?
before Ghosn, a decade of losses.
With Ghosn, 2 decades of profits and growth;
6 years after Ghosn, losses again.How do you think, are those negative commentaries mostly from Japan?
I want every piece of success for Japan, but this makes me a bit worried, it people didn’t learn a lesson at all, as if there was nothing wrong with both ousting a savior-CEO and doing this in Russian Gulag style as well.
One who doesn’t learn from mistakes would be doomed to repeat them…
meco
Nissan management has gone to the chinese control since ghosn left the nissan . Corrupt nissan management and chinese were behind the removal of ghosn . Nissan management policies become more like a chinese companies, now nissan has gone far-off from japanese root . Nissan corrup management dig there own coffin by colliating with chinese and put the nissan company on steep downfall .
Mocheake
Maybe in Japan but nobody cares as Japan is in decline. Nissan is in steep decline. One failed leader after another. Where's the savior for both? Twenty prime ministers in thirty years.
Naveen Kumar Swarnkar
The government of Japan's debt in 2022 was $10 trillion,
and GDP was $4.2 %, but currently, in 2025, it is 8.86 trillion, which is 263% of its total GDP, relatively higher. Before Carlosh Ghosan joined, Nissan's depth was $20 billion, but Nissan posted a net profit of $4.13 billion in the business year ending in March 2013, indicating the company's profitability in that year. How the Government of Japan will handle it, as a big question for the Government of Japan and their innocent Japanese Citizens.
From https://india.nissanmotornews.com/en-IN/videos/video-560dc24751c179d9d6d8d4dbaf15c3a0-the-power-of-three-nissan-posts-413-billion-profit?firstResultIndex=16&channelsConstraint=channel-461601380b95b4c75190d5972411a22d#:~:text=May%2010%2C%202013%20%E2%80%93%20Yokohama%20%E2%80%93%20Nissan,on%20course%20to%20meet%20its%20twin%20mid%2Dterm and https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/240509-01-e#:~:text=With%20the%20Arc%20business%20plan,with%20attractive%20and%20competitive%20products.&text=Commenting%20on%20the%20results%2C%20Nissan,market%20conditions%20and%20customer%20needs.%E2%80%9D&text=2.,in%20revenues%20and%20operating%20profit.&text=The%20financial%20forecast%20is%20based,differ%20from%20the%20aforementioned%20forecast.
This profit has no meaning for all Japanese except some still admired him (Carlos), as a hero despite all the scandals, and charges imposed on Carlos. Ilker Ayci also turnaround the Turkish Airline, and some people also gave him a Cost Killer Title. It is not fair. Carlos Ghosn does, many meaningful steps for Nissan but Nissan's other officials don’t look at it, but simply playing the blame game at the cost of blood and eyes. They are doing meaningfully but some crusade mentality person, never recognize it because of their habitual and learning tendency and are culturally-isolated. At last Dr. Carlos Ghosn said in one podcast, "Organize life make easily predictable and that will turn into your weakness."
There are five major reasons for Nissan's Failure:
Lack of a clear profit orientation
Insufficient focus on customers and too much focus on chasing competitors
Lack of cross-functional, cross-border, and intra-hierarchical lines of work in the company
Lack of a sense of urgency
No shared vision or common long-term planpage no. 60, from Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan by David Magee by Harper Collins Publisher.
But strength according to Carlos Ghosn of Nissan:
A significant international presence and global reach
A world-leading manufacturing system
A leading edge in selective, crucial technological fields
The alliance with Renault
Talented and dedicated employees, for example, Norio Matsumoto for innovatively designing cars. Today's current Nissan officials don't care about it but simply rush it out. From page no. 61, Turnaround: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan by David Magee and published by Harper Collins.I want to say a big Thank you from the Bottom of my Heart to Carlos Ghosn for saving the Nissan but it's unfortunate current position of Nissan will again trouble. At this time, no one will become a SAVIOR!!!
Naveen Kumar Swarnkar
The government of Japan's debt in 2022 was $10 trillion, and
GDP was $4.2 %, but
currently, in 2025, it is 8.86 trillion, which is 263% of its total GDP, relatively higher.
Before Carlosh Ghosan joined, Nissan's depth was $20 billion, but Nissan posted a net profit of $4.13 billion in the business year ending in March 2013, indicating the company's profitability in that year.
From https://india.nissanmotornews.com/en-IN/videos/video-560dc24751c179d9d6d8d4dbaf15c3a0-the-power-of-three-nissan-posts-413-billion-profit?firstResultIndex=16&channelsConstraint=channel-461601380b95b4c75190d5972411a22d#:~:text=May%2010%2C%202013%20%E2%80%93%20Yokohama%20%E2%80%93%20Nissan,on%20course%20to%20meet%20its%20twin%20mid%2Dterm and https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/240509-01-e#:~:text=With%20the%20Arc%20business%20plan,with%20attractive%20and%20competitive%20products.&text=Commenting%20on%20the%20results%2C%20Nissan,market%20conditions%20and%20customer%20needs.%E2%80%9D&text=2.,in%20revenues%20and%20operating%20profit.&text=The%20financial%20forecast%20is%20based,differ%20from%20the%20aforementioned%20forecast.
Who is responsible for this financial condition of the Government of Japan, and who will handle it. That is the big question, which is still unanswered.
This profit has no meaning for all Japanese except some still admired him, as a hero despite all scandals, and charges imposed on Carlos. Ilker Ayci also turnaround the Turkish Airline, and some people also gave him a Cost Killer Title. It is not fair. Carlos Ghosn does, many meaningful steps for Nissan but Nissan's other officials don’t look at it, but simply playing the blame game at the cost of blood and eyes.
There are five major reasons, according to Carlos Ghosn:
· Lack of clear profit orientation
· Insufficient focus on customers and too much focus on chasing competitors
· Lack of cross-function, cross-border, and company intra-hierarchical lines of work in the company
· Lack of sense of urgency
· No shared vision or common long-term plan
According to Carlos Ghosn, the strengths of Nissan’s are
· A significant international presence and global reach
· A world-leading manufacturing system
· A leading-edge in selective, crucial technological fields
· The alliance with Renault
· Talented and dedicated employees like Norio Matsumura as handpicked employee of Carlos Ghosn
From Turnarounf: How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan by David Magee, published by Harper Collins, pages 60-61.
oldman_13
My opinions on this guy changed once I saw him cowardly leave Japan undercover and let his American counterpart behind to face the music. The way he left Japan is pretty much how he ran Nissan.
Pacificpilot
These are only a few of the publicly disclosed infractions by Ghosn
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported Nissan paid billions of yen to buy and renovate homes for Ghosn in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam, citing unidentified sources. The properties had no business purpose and were not listed as benefits in filings to the Tokyo bourse, it said.
The Nikkei reported that Nissan - through a British Virgin Islands unit of a Dutch venture fund subsidiary - bought and renovated homes for Ghosn in Brazil and Lebanon worth around $18 million. Nissan, the report added, also paid several hundred thousand dollars for Ghosn's family vacations.
The Yomiuri, Japan's biggest-circulation daily, said Nissan had been paying Ghosn's elder sister $100,000 a year since 2002 for a non-existent advisory role. She lived in a luxury Rio de Janeiro apartment funded by a Nissan subsidiary, according to the report, which cited unidentified sources.
Daniel Neagari
hahahahaha if Goshn thinks the Musky one is remotely a good manager, that only shows how little Goshn was really doing regarding captaining Nissan.
chotto_2
All that time spent in a guitar case finally got to him
HopeSpringsEternal
There can be no doubt that while Ghosn was at Nissan, times were $far better than without him. The why is the real question, as correlation does not equal causation.
Suspect Ghosn could more effectively engage the auto industry outside Japan in order to pursue profitable synergies than his Japanese counterparts = better deal maker
nishikat
Attention Ghosn fans: Are you saying the only person in the world who can/could fix Nissan is Ghosn? It sounds cult like as if implying Gosn is a mini Musk. But we all know that Musk has trashed Tesla. The Chinese make better and cheaper EVs. You can see Nissan EVs all over th place. They may be having financial problems but it's not as if they are the Enron of car companies (that's more what Tesla is). They sell stuff worth buying.
Alexey Kardo
@nishikat I absolutely agree, there are many good managers in the industry and around (though there are probably only few great ones who turned failing companies around, and Ghosn is definitely among them).
The magic happens because of a combination of factors:
great manager,
great trust and rights delegated to him by investors - including their wisdom not to intervene in the process and ruin efficiency with bureaucracy
good enough resources available to the manager
long enough time for changes to start working (though with Nissan of 1999, Ghosn didn't even need that to make it profitable - tool him just 1 year; but still it took 14 years more to grow it from 2.4 to over 5.2 million cars sold annually)It seems Nissan owners / decision makers can provide only 1 or 2 of these four:(
With Ghosn+Renault, all 4 factors coincided in one place and time.
Might be not easy to replicate.
nishikat
Really? We all know that Musk is garbage and look at Tesla crashing. If Ghosn is so great then how can he say Musk is great? It seems Gsohn's judgement is off by a great degree if he thinks Musk is a good manager. Remember that Musk did NOT found Tesla, and the first successful models before the Cybertruck disaster has nothing to do with Musk's involvement..at least in their conception process.
bass4funk
X and Space X seem to be doing just fine. Anyway, it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to run it.
kennyG
SO, after he escaped from an unlawful nation in Asia which does not respect human rights, what the heck is he doing there? making Holloywood Movie or what?