Development comes as Japanese courts deny him bail.
The 64-year old legendary leader of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, thus far ditched by the Japanese parties of said Alliance, has largely been backed by the French carmaker that he has helmed for for some two decades. However in the face of calls by the French government (Renault’s largest single shareholder) to replace Carlos Ghosn as CEO & Chairman, the company can no longer remain in that position.
And in the face of having his bail request rejected by the harsh Japanese legal system, we suspect Ghosn too is of the mind that the Renault ship cannot remain without a captain for such a long period of time. As such, it’s been reported that he has agreed to step down willingly, with an emergency Renault board meeting scheduled for tomorrow set to confirm that resignation and set in place the succession plan.
The board will meet at 0900 GMT on Thursday, where it’s expected that the chairmanship will be offered to former Michelin boss Jean-Dominique Senard, while the current caretaker CEO Thierry Bollore will be promoted to the post full-time. Of course Renault did not confirm this to Reuters, only going as far as to say that there is a board meeting on the cards for Thursday but stopped short of discussing its agenda and whether it concerned Ghosn in any capacity.
Carlos Ghosn was arrested on November 19th much to the shock of the automotive industry, and has since been charged with financial misconduct surrounding some US$80-million in undisclosed compensation, as well as breach of trust regarding what Japanese prosecutors frame as an attempted transfer of personal investment losses from Ghosn to Nissan. At the time, Renault defended their boss, saying that they were to stand by him as there was no evidence of such misconduct on their end, and so there was no reason to leave him out in the cold.
At his first public appearance since the arrest, Ghosn expressed his love & passion for his work, and rubbished the allegations levelled against him. Despite being at the mercy of the Japanese legal system, heavily criticised in the international arena for its harsh conditions and procedures that extend great allowances to prosecutors, Ghosn continued to reiterate his innocence and talked about his mammoth achievements at the helm of the Alliance.
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