FILE PHOTO: Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, responds to a question on the alliance’s new venture capital fund during roundtable with journalists at the 2018 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo
November 20, 2018
TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares of Nissan Motor Co were overwhelmed with sell orders on Tuesday, a day after the arrest of Chairman Carlos Ghosn sent shockwaves through the business world and threw into doubt the future of Japan’s No.2 automaker and its global alliance.
In a late-night announcement on Monday, Nissan said Ghosn was arrested for alleged financial misconduct and would be fired from the board this week. Ghosn is also chairman and chief executive of Nissan’s French partner, Renault.
Ousting Ghosn is bound to raise questions about an alliance that he personally shaped and had pledged to consolidate with a deeper tie-up, before eventually stepping back from its operational leadership.
Japanese media cited prosecutors as saying Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly conspired to understate Ghosn’s compensation over five years starting in fiscal 2010 as being about half of the actual 9.998 billion yen ($88.9 million).
Shares in Mitsubishi Motors Corp, another member of the Franco-Japanese partnership, were also untraded with a glut of sell orders early on Tuesday.
($1 = 112.4400 yen)
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Stephen Coates)
