As Nissan digs deep to resolve a financial crisis – one that an unnamed senior official said left it with only “12 or 14 months to survive” – it is losing a key person that would have been instrumental in navigating these choppy waters. Chief financial officer Stephen Ma is set to step down from his role, marking another change in top management, according to Bloomberg.
The publication, citing people familiar with the matter, said it is unclear whether Ma would be demoted or leave the company altogether. The move comes 17 months after chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta also left his post, leaving CEO Makoto Uchida as the sole top-level C-suite executive remaining at a time Nissan has attracted the attention of Singapore-based activist investor Effissimo Capital Management.
The Japanese carmaker is struggling to stay afloat six years on from the headline-grabbing arrest and ousting of chairman Carlos Ghosn. A sales slump in the US and China, caused by an outdated lineup and the misreading of hybrid demand in North America, resulted in a nine billion yen (RM268 million) loss in the third quarter of the year and necessitated 9,000 job cuts and a 20% reduction in production capacity.
As a result, Nissan now estimates an operating income of 150 billion yen (RM4.46 billion) for the fiscal year ending in March, down 70% from its previous forecast. Its market capitalisation has shrunk to around 1.5 trillion yen (RM44.6 billion) since its peak at almost six trillion yen (RM178 billion) in 2015 and means the company is now only the fifth-largest Japanese carmaker in terms of market value after Toyota, Honda (with which Nissan has signed a partnership that could be crucial to its survival), Suzuki and Subaru.
Ma, who joined Nissan in 1996 in North America and worked in financial roles in China and Japan beforehand, was announced as CFO in December 2019 alongside Uchida and Gupta. Jun Seki was made co-COO alongside the trio but left quickly thereafter. The company confirmed last month that Guillaume Cartier, currently chairperson of the Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) region, will be promoted to chief performance officer starting December 1.
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Cina cfo india coo etc this nissan more madani than proton man
Once again Jepunis backstabbers cabal thrown another non-Jepunis exec under the bus. Once they have an all Jepunis team then they will be happy while Nissan burns to the ground.
Maybe Geely can come in to rescue them too?
Where’s the melei to complete the puzzle?
time to dump shares
Of all the Japanese car manufacturers,Nissan is the worst and might even have another 6 months left.
Definitely the Japs wont invite Chinese companies to bail them out..So only left South Koreans.The EU and US auto companies are also dying.
Perhaps we have a Hyundai,Kia,Nissan alliance.
Nissan deserve to die. Instead of investing into new models they spend the money to revamp their logo. Jepunis fanbois hentam P1 for doing this now their Jepunis overlord also did the same and they are failing. Wahahaha!
“A sales slump in the US and China, caused by an outdated lineup and the misreading of hybrid demand in North America, resulted in a nine billion yen (RM268 million) loss in the third quarter of the year and necessitated 9,000 job cuts and a 20% reduction in production capacity.”
I think we all know the real reason Nissan facing sales slump.
Ghosn already exposed Nissan’s true intentions. This is a very feudalistic xenophobic Japanese company who’s still stuck in the WW2 mentality. They will use foreign expertise while they can, and then discard them. Ghosn got on their wrong side for promoting people based on performance and meritocracy. This didn’t sit well with the elderly folks at Nissan who said he went against the company culture of promotion based on seniority rather than performance and merit.
So, rather than change their corporate culture for the better, Nissan decided it was better to lynch a high-performing CEO on trumped-up charges and undo all the performance- and merit-based changes that Ghosn instituted within the Renault-Nissan group.
Now the Europeans have dropped them like a hot potato, and one after another high-ranking non-Japanese within the organization are at the receiving end of Nissan’s awful racist corporate culture.
Nissan truly deserves to go under. Let some China automotive giant swallow them up, their fate could be better then.
Who are you kidding? He is the one threw the company in hellfire while he was CEO. Auto enthusiasts know damn well he is the culprit for Nissan downfall. Oh yeah not to mention the renault-nissan alliance add more fuel to the fire.
Nissan was already a failure before Ghosn joined, nissan managed to survive due to the lopsided partnership with Renault, depending on which side of the fence you sit, both had their give and takes. FYI, auto enthusiasts also have polarizing opinions, and not many are financial or business literate, generalizing all of them to suit your narrative is a bit meek.
Are you sure you that you are not just riding on play the victim mentality? So tell me. Why is Infiniti doing so horribly during his command? Why is the successful Murrano is getting really late refresh during his reign? Who is the one decided to launch the ugly X-trail/Rogue Cross Cabriolet? You are calling me not financial/business literate? Bro look in the mirror. Nissan CAN print so much money while still not cutting corners left and right but what he is doing is the opposite. I can say the same thing that about carlos not being car literate. He absolutely has no idea about automotive industry just like how mat sabu is in ruling our country
Yeah right. If not for Renault & saudara Ghosn, Nissan would be bankrupt & gone by now.
Well said.
Time for Geely to step in
XD… Not worth a single penny to B saved….Let them burn!!!
anything controversial seems to be written by Jonathan ! somehow i comment his articles more than the rest. this must be destiny. lol
at this point, Nissan execs should step down and retires. Let the new younger generation to take over this company. If not, China will buy Nissan shares and it will be another proton 2.0
Lagi Baik balik Sg Siput jual Mee Sup