Nissan board votes unanimously to fire chairman Ghosn
22 Nov 2018
Nissan Motor Co’s board voted unanimously to oust chairman Carlos Ghosn on Thursday after the shock arrest of the industry heavyweight, ushering in a period of uncertainty for its 19-year alliance with Renault.
The Japanese firm said its board also voted to remove Greg Kelly - who like Ghosn has been arrested after allegations of financial misconduct - from his post as representative director.
The move, which leaves the chairman position vacant, came despite Renault urging Nissan’s board before its meeting to delay removing Ghosn, sources close to the matter told Reuters.
The board of directors for Nissan Motor Co Ltd, which met at the company’s global headquarters in Yokohama today, acknowledged the significance of the matter and confirmed that the long-standing alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged and that the mission is to minimise the potential impact and confusion on the day-to-day cooperation among the alliance partners.
After reviewing a detailed report of the internal investigation, the board voted unanimously to discharge Carlos Ghosn as chairman of the board and representative director and to discharge Greg Kelly as representative director.
The board also decided to study the creation of a special committee to appropriately take advice from an independent third party regarding the governance management system and better governance of director compensation.
Further to the mandate, the three independent directors – Masakazu Toyoda, Keiko Ihara and Jean-Baptiste Duzan – will lead this matter.
The board decided to approve establishment of an advisory committee chaired by Masakazu Toyoda and including Keiko Ihara and Jean-Baptiste Duzan. The committee will propose nominations from the board of directors for the position of chairman of the board.
Nissan is a global full-line vehicle manufacturer that sells more than 60 models under the Nissan, INFINITI and Datsun brands. In fiscal year 2017, the company sold 5.77 million vehicles globally, generating revenue of 11.9 trillion yen. O
With global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, Nissan manages operations in six regions - Asia & Oceania; Africa, the Middle East & India; China; Europe; Latin America and North America.