Nissan Scandal: Do you know who Carlo Ghosn is?
One hour after Ghosn's capture, Renault shares suffered a 6% collapse in the Paris stock exchange
Carlos Ghosn, chairman of the Nissan board of directors, was arrested Monday in Japan for financial misconduct. Nissan, the sixth largest automaker in the world according to the BBC, said that an internal investigation was conducted for several months. There, it was discovered that the income that Ghosn had declared to the Japanese authorities was considerably less than the real income. Similarly, Ghosn is accused of making personal use of the assets of the company.
Leer en español: ¿Quién es Carlos Ghosn? El gigante de Nissan capturado por mala conducta financiera
According to Nissan's official statement: "The investigation showed that, for many years, Ghosn has been reporting compensation amounts (financial) in his report to the Tokyo Stock Exchange that was less than the actual figures."
Likewise, Japanese media have reported that between 2011 and 2016 Ghosn declared amounts of less than 5 billion yen (44 million USD), which would correspond to an undervaluation of 10,000 million yen (88 million USD). However, these figures have not been officially confirmed.
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According to the newspaper Expansión, an hour after the capture of Ghosn, Renault's shares suffered a 6% collapse in the Paris stock exchange. During the day of Monday, and as more details about the investigation were revealed to Ghosn, the falls even reached 15%. Finally, the day closed with a fall of 8.43% (67.30 USD) in the shares of Renault.
For his part, Hiroto Saikawa, CEO of Nissan, confirmed during a press conference that on Thursday, November 22, a meeting of the company's board of directors was held, at which the dismissal of Ghosn will be formalized. For its part, the Tokyo Prosecutor's Office has not issued statements on the case.
Who is Carlos Ghosn?
The Brazilian, in addition to being chairman of the board of Nissan, is president of Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, thus, because of the alliance, he achieved between these companies. However, last year the entrepreneur began to disassociate himself from some responsibilities at Renault.
In addition, according to the BBC, "the executive is considered a 'Titan' because he was responsible for the dramatic turn of Nissan in the early years of the 21st century when the car company was on the verge of bankruptcy."
Ghosn studied engineering at the Polytechnic School and the School of Mines in Paris and began his career holding positions in the Michelin company in Brazil and France. After this, he started his work in Renault and in 1999, after Renault bought a stake in Nissan, Ghosn started working for the Japanese company, becoming its chief executive in 2001.
In the 1990s Ghosn was nicknamed "The Cost Eliminator" as a result of his strategy, with successful results, to cut jobs and close factories. Likewise, the popularity with which Ghosn has in Japan is considerably high. In 2011, a hypothetical survey was conducted to citizens about who would be the best ruler for the country. In this survey, Ghosn was chosen as the seventh best candidate, while, for example, Barack Obama was voted in ninth place.
LatinAmerican Post | Sofía Carreño
Translated from: '¿Quién es Carlos Ghosn? El gigante de Nissan capturado por mala conducta financiera'
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