Nissan Motor Co on Tuesday said it forecasts a net loss of 200 billion yen for the April-June quarter and apologized for the worsening performance as it faced criticism from shareholders at their annual meeting.
New President and CEO Ivan Espinosa, who took over from Makoto Uchida in April, vowed to return the business to profitability by fiscal 2026 after apologizing for the poor outlook, encumbered by high auto tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
He reiterated restructuring plans that include shuttering seven factories and cutting 20,000 jobs, saying that the company would release the information on which factories would be affected swiftly once decided.
Nissan has been grappling with poor sales in the United States and China, logging a net loss of 670.90 billion yen for fiscal 2024, which ended at the end of March. It initially did not issue an earnings forecast for the current fiscal year.
With Uchida also present at the meeting, shareholders repeatedly questioned his responsibility and expressed indignation at the lack of dividends in contrast to massive payouts to four former executives, including Uchida, for leaving top roles. However, Uchida declined to respond.
"Many demanded answers from Uchida and asked what the point of his attendance was if he was refusing to answer any questions," said Tsuyoshi Maruki, CEO of Strategic Capital Inc, an activist investor.
But he expressed high expectations for Espinosa, noting that he had a calm demeanor despite the tumult of the shareholders meeting, adding, "We'll just have to anticipate good results from now on."
In addition to the job cut and plant closures, Nissan is also reportedly planning to sell its headquarters building in Yokohama to help cover costs.
"I was not convinced by their explanation. The management was avoiding responsibility," said a 76-year-old shareholder who has driven Nissan vehicles for around 50 years. "They were just putting it all on the workers and firing them."
Nissan and Honda Motor Co revealed in December plans to begin merger talks under a holding company, aiming to share the financial burden of developing electric vehicles and software to better compete with global rivals, but the talks broke down less than two months later.
However, the two automakers, along with Mitsubishi Motors Corp, have continued discussions regarding a possible collaboration on the electrification of automobiles, among other areas.
© KYODO
27 Comments
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Jim
The company which was on its path to rekindling all the success under Ghosn… the jealousy of other executives who conspired with Japanese prosecutors to remove Ghosn has really damaged the reputation, operations and profitability of the company to such levels that they’ll probably never recover. The sad part of it all is that the average workers and shareholders continue to suffer the aftermath of the conspiracy without having anything to do with it while the real culprits ( the people behind the coup to remove Ghosn) took huge payouts from Nissan and live a lavish life!
maxjapank
20,000 workers deserved better than this Nissan management.
Asiaman7
Massive payouts to four executives including Uchida?
Shareholders must have felt ashamed and miserable to learn that something this outrageous was happening. The Nissan brand has been tarnished, the workers are demoralized, and trust for management has been lost.
—
Uchida testifying as a witness for Nissan against Carlos Ghosn in 2021: “I felt ashamed and miserable when I learned that something this outrageous was happening. The Nissan brand was tarnished, the workers were demoralized, and trust for management has been lost.”
Hervé L'Eisa
This is merely karma at work, retribution for the boardroom coup of Ghosn. The dirtiest birds are those four who received the massive payouts. The result of the dirty dealings is the demise of Nissan.
sakurasuki
Exactly @Jim
There's no way blaming to Ghosn by now, it's been almost 8 years which consist 32 quarters. That's plenty time to do turn actual turn around.
To add more aspect into this situation, Ghosn fortunate enough to escape injustice in Japan so he can clear his name while his former company can't hold single narrative against him anymore at all.
sakurasuki
Speech is silver, silence is golden, right?
Boston
What a hypocrite!
This Uchida character first criticizes Ghosn’s management and salary. Uchida then milks Nissan for his own golden parachute after four years of poor management!
Nissan shareholders are justified in feeling as though they have been taken advantage of.
obladi
Profits Ghosn with the wind.
Aly Rustom
Exactly. And watch Nissan crash and burn. Bye Felicia.
Lorem Ipsum
So many anti-Ghosn comments on an article that has nothing to do with Ghosn, Amazing that he lives in so many heads rent-free.
kibousha
200 billion lost,
20,000 workers got fired,
600 million executive bonuses.
That's what "winning" looks like, you win no matter what, the game is rigged.
Let Nissan crash and burn.
Fiddlers
Serves them right, what goes around comes around.
Garlic eater
"We'll just have to anticipate good results from now on."
Great strategy, I'm going to buy Nissan shares right now.
What was Uchida even doing there?
Garlic eater
My advice is, if you've bought a Nissan, sell it now. If the worst comes to the worst, after sales service and Nissan parts will become nonexistent in the near future, and your car will be shunned even as a trade in.
WoodyLee
"" Former Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida and four other executives received a combined total of 646 million yen (approximately $4.5 million USD) as severance pay for leaving their positions. This payout was part of a broader management shuffle at the company, where Ivan Espinosa was appointed as the new CEO. The payment was disclosed in a general shareholders' meeting notice. ""
Source Google Serch.
Anyone surprised!??
WoodyLee
Honda should have taken this DISASTER and rescued it, but then again who wants a sinking ship.
Asiaman7
@WoodyLee
You should probably include that Nissan lost 670.9 billion yen for the fiscal year ended March.
And the combined remuneration for Nissan's current five executive officers was nearly 1.66 billion yen.
Additionally, the new president plans to more than double staff cuts to 20,000 people and close seven of its 17 vehicle plants.
—
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250528/p2g/00m/0bu/004000c#
Garlic eater
Without a government brokered rescue they won't exist in 2027. That's my guess.
Garlic eater
And, FYI, Nissan owes roughly ¥700 billion in bond repayments by March 2026.
Good luck with that one.
aaronagstring
Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma, chameleon…….
Sorry Nissan, I’m all broken up about your ¥200 billion loss. Here’s ¥20, so that you can call someone that cares.
リッチ
When the current management framed the foreigner, it was only a matter of time before they ran it into the ground. Ghosn must be grinning and crying at the same time.
SaikoPhysco
Are people being paid to down-vote anything someone says negative about Nissan. I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone, including employees, would not be very critical of Nissan at this point. The Govt. asked Honda to please look at acquiring Nissan and Honda, after just a short time said No. It feels like China sometimes here in Japan.... meaning, anything negative about China is quickly erased from the internet in domestic China. At least the remarks are not being totally silenced but how could anyone be supportive of Nissan after all the crap they've perpetrated. People... even if Nissan goes bankrupt the employees will still survive because many parts of Nissan have value and those parts would be bought up. But who wants to buy Nissan now when you still have no idea on how many things they're hiding.
mu-da
The Japanese managers who conspired to got rid of Ghosn now expose thier own greed - whithout Ghosn's management skill and vision. Just naked greed and jealousy. Truly sad for the employees of Nissan to endure such self-righteous corrupt losers as managers who ruined the brand and the company after they got rid of the golden goose and installed themselves.
nishikat
Is this also going to happen with Ivan Espinosa? Wow, if I were the current gaijin CEO of Nissan I would run like h***. Please do tell. Should we warn Espinosa? It seems he doesn't know anything about Ghosn being jailed because of jealousy. That's really incredible. Maybe if I were a gaijin manager of a local 7/11 in Japan and the owner became jealous because I'm such a good convenience store manager the same thing that happened to Ghosn could happen to me. What do Ghosn fans think?
justasking
Ghosn is leading these clown executives in Nissan who couldn't do anything without him. No wonder they conspired to get rid of him.
factchecker
Time to go back to being called Datsun, you know when they used to make money.
HopeSpringsEternal
No merit to Nissan biz model in world rapidly digitalizing and heading towards autonomy, terrible balance sheet and cash flow negative, other that, things look great!