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]