Carlos Ghosn vows he won't depart Nissan until it returns to profitability?
Carlos Ghosn became Nissan's chief operating officer in 1999, initially declared that he would remain in the job for a maximum of ten years. At the time, Nissan had $13 billion in debt, a history of losses, and an almost completely forgettable product lineup. Now, on the eve of his ten-year anniversary and after a success story that few expected, Ghosn says he won't step down until Nissan is clearly profitable again.
For fiscal 2008, Nissan suffered an operating loss of 100 billion yen ($1.03 billion U.S.) on sales that were down 9.5% from 2007. For Ghosn to leave in the aftermath of that showing would be, in his words, "deserting." As one of the industry's few major execs upon whom praise is regularly lavished, we imagine many employees at Nissan and Renault are pleased to see him remain at the controls.
[Source: Reuters | Image: AFP/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SS 6:50PM (5/12/2009)
Or till Obama takes over and kicks him out.
Oh wait-Nissan isnt a US company yet?
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nova_golem 6:50PM (5/12/2009)
everything about him is epic
this just emphasis that point XD
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Franz 7:00PM (5/12/2009)
Admirable.
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tuna 7:04PM (5/12/2009)
"we imagine many employees at Nissan and Renault are pleased to see him remain at the controls."
You have no idea...
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Jared 7:26PM (5/12/2009)
I'm sure he's real popular down in Nashville, or with the ex-employees in SoCal. Or not.
larry a 7:06PM (5/12/2009)
Ghosn is quite the businessman
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Taglane 7:07PM (5/12/2009)
Every picture of this man makes him look godly.
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MoonRover 7:20PM (5/12/2009)
Every time I see him I'm reminded of Jim Jones and Guyana.
KT 7:27PM (5/12/2009)
I wonder if he has some clause in his contract that stipulates that all media pictures must be shot from a low angle.
jon 7:54PM (5/12/2009)
no, only a stipulation that every picture of him have his face in it 2 times minimum
Maxfli82 4:21AM (5/13/2009)
I got freaked out by that picture. At first, I thought he was holding his head in his hands.
Jared 7:25PM (5/12/2009)
Wagoner said the same thing.
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FordGT 7:52PM (5/12/2009)
If only we could clone him and have one for each of the big three over here. He's knows this business and has saved Nissan. I can't imagine Nissan without him!
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jon 7:52PM (5/12/2009)
could we ask him to head up the Detroit restructuring? i feel like only then might things work out for the big 3
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Santosh Tiwari 9:11PM (5/12/2009)
He had the business acumen.
He turned Nissan around.
I would rather prefer Ghosn at the helm of GM than Henderson.
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BigWill 8:46PM (5/12/2009)
Hey Carlos, some advice - if you receive a check signed by a B. Obama, don't cash it.
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Gary Lowe 1:15AM (5/13/2009)
Yes...he's brought poor quality and new and even more forgettable design to Nissan and Infiniti. The Cube was 7 years too late. The Rogue 8 years too late. The Sentra was a has been even before the latest generation was launched two years late. The Quest was a disaster and the timing of the Titan couldn't be worse.
What a track record.
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Yikes 8:55AM (5/13/2009)
Of course, what if the problems with profitability is tied directly to him.
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Architeuthis 12:16PM (5/13/2009)
I get it. Ghosn is responsible for the fall of Lehman and Merrill, Ghosn is why Citi and BoA are so massively overleveraged, Ghosn is the counterparty of AIG's credit default swaps, Ghosn invented the CDO! It all makes sense now!