Carlos Ghosn's arrest threw Nissan Motor Co. into a corporate tailspin with allegations of self-dealing, profligate spending and filing false statements. Now the automaker's profits are falling off a cliff, and successor Hiroto Saikawa may go down with them.
Troubled by slumping U.S. sales, aging models and a product cycle that's out of sync, the Yokohama-based company is on track to announce on Tuesday its lowest annual operating profit in a decade, raising the possibility of a dividend cut. The outlook for the current fiscal year to March 2020 probably won't be any more promising.
Chief Executive Officer Saikawa has yet to announce a turnaround plan since the arrest of former Chairman Ghosn in November, and people familiar with the matter say there's internal strife over whether he's the right executive to fix Nissan. Alliance partner Renault SA may not look too favorably on Saikawa's reappointment if he continues to oppose a merger said to be backed by its own Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, who is also a Nissan director.