Carlos Ghosn, the auto world's 'cost killer'
Brazilian-born Carlos Ghosn, who is facing a pay scandal in Japan, has
long stood out among the world's auto executives as a hard-nosed
workaholic willing to take drastic measures to get companies back on
their feet quickly.
As head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, Ghosn has created an
industrial behemoth, its combined 470,000 employees selling 10.6 million
vehicles last year from 122 factories around the globe.
But the group now looks troubled after Japanese police reportedly
arrested Ghosn on suspicion he failed to report his full compensation to
stock market authorities as chairman of Nissan.
Nissan's board has said it will seek his removal after a months-long
inquiry prompted by a whistle-blower uncovered "significant acts of
misconduct."
It is not the first time Ghosn has gotten into hot water over pay, in
particular a combined salary that makes him one of the highest-paid CEOs
in France and one of the best-paid foreign executives in Japan.
Last year he denied a report the alliance was planning to pay hidden
bonuses to its executives by setting up a company in the Netherlands.
And in February the French state, which owns a 15 percent stake in
Renault, forced Ghosn to accept a 30 percent pay cut from the 7.25
million euros ($8.3 million) he took home as Renault CEO last year,
calling the amount "excessive".
The government had already put its foot down in 2016, joining with 54
percent of voters at Renault's annual meeting in refusing to authorise a
7.25-million-euro pay package.
The vote was overruled by Renault's board, but Ghosn later accepted a
pay cut after Emmanuel Macron, France's finance minister at the time,
threatened to step in with a new compensation law.
"Compensation is more scrutinised today than in the past," Ghosn told
The Financial Times in June, but added: "You won't have any CEO say,
'I'm overly compensated'."
- 'Never accept interference' -
Long nicknamed "Le Cost Killer" in France, Ghosn began his career with
the tyre-maker Michelin and, after a early stint in Brazil, was quickly
promoted and earned a reputation for turning around its North American
operations.
From there, he was recruited by Renault in 1996 to work alongside then
CEO Louis Schweitzer, where he helped return the company to
profitability by making the former state-owned carmaker leaner and more
efficient.
Just three years later, he was sent to head the newly acquired Nissan
group with the challenge of doing the same thing within two years. He
managed it within one.
The performance made him a hero in Japan, where manga comics are devoted
to the suave businessman known for always being up before dawn after
just six hours of sleep a night.
"A boss has to have 100 percent freedom to act and 100 percent
responsibility for what he does. I have never tolerated any wavering
from that principle, I will never accept any interference," he once
said.
After restoring Renault and Nissan to sound financial footing -- in the
process shedding thousands of jobs at each company -- Ghosn, who has
French citizenship, quickly shifted into higher gear by pressing hard to
develop electric cars.
More recently he has been focusing on reviving Mitsubishi, which secured
a lifeline in 2016 from Nissan after it bought a 34 percent stake.
- Globetrotter -
Crossing borders and adapting to different cultures have never been a problem for 64-year-old Ghosn.
Born in Brazil on March 9, 1954, to Lebanese parents, he was reportedly
able to distinguish types of cars at the age of five just by the sound
of their horns.
At the age of six, he went to live in the Lebanese capital Beirut with his mother and attended a Jesuit high school there.
Later he moved to Paris where he picked up degrees at two of France's
most elite schools, including the Polytechnique engineering university.
His Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French and English are fluent, and he
has picked up a working knowledge of Japanese during his time at Nissan.
Yet he also fiercely guarded his personal time and maintains his ties with Lebanon, where he has invested in a winery.
"I do not bring my work home. I play with my four children and spend
time with my family on weekends," he once told Fortune magazine.
"When I go to work on Monday... I come up with good ideas as a result of becoming stronger after being recharged."
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