The Japanese prosecutors pulled some pretty outrageous stuff, like demanding that he have no contact with his wife while under house arrest. Stunts like that are what you pull when you've got no case and you just want to bring someone to the point where they'll plea to any deal proposed in order to just make it stop. It happens in the US as well, but usually not to those with a public profile. The FBI even has a word for it: bumperlock - when they don't have enough to make a case, so they disrupt someone's life with overt surveillance and hope that it drives them to actually break the law.
Bumperlock is real and was used on random Muslim figures a lot after 9/11. You either become an FBI informant keeping tabs on your community or they "accidently" put you on the no-fly list, deny your green card despite you meeting all the criteria, come visit you at your office with gifts and asking weird questions. It's just what governments do to circumvent the fundamental right to be treated equally until proven guilty.
Are you surprised his bail conditions were so stringent? Clearly they thought him a flight risk and eventually that's what happened. It does not follow he escaped because the cops were meanies to him but more likely because he was guilty AF.
That is a well known procedure by Japanese Police and has been criticized many times yet they keep the system. If you look at the statistics in Japanese Justice System, you will find that there is a huge number of cases closed by means of confession and of course it would be because of this system.
Japan's justice system has serious problems and there is very likely some truth to the idea that Carlos was being railroaded by the Japanese government into more serious charges than what really happened. Just look at the cases of men like Iwao Hakamada and Sakae Menda. They're some of the high profile ones that actually managed to get free.
I've been a long term observer of the car industry. Still remember when Nissan & Carlos used to stream their annual report meetings live on YT yearly, & I watched with great interest. The turnaround of Nissan was remarkable under his reign. At least in the first 2/3 of his tenure. Things started to go pear shaped with the unsuccessful collaboration with Daimler, the global material/ fuel price pressure (not his fault) on the Russian & South American ventures, the discontent among the conservative senior managements on committing into full EV before anyone else as a major carmaker. (Tesla was barely holding up as a carmaker than) All the factors above & a few more I haven't listed wasn't great. But I don't believe it's the reason of his downfall. The real reason is the moment he signalled to a change of governing structure within the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Group. This new structure would in essence forego the independence of Nissan. For years Renault & Nissan in name are the same group but operate largely as separate entities. Here is my honest opinion. I believe Carlos has certainly did all that was alleged. But at the same time I also believe Nissan knew it all along & let him get away with it. I do believe Nissan collaborate with the Japanese government to act the moment they found out their independence is at risk. People underestimate there are certain cultural line you simply don't cross in Japan.
I agree. When Ghosn overstepped, they went in for the kill. It's a bit of a hit-or-miss situation. Most of Ghosn's Nissans were total crap, but DID boost sales by a lot, so on the one hand, I am excited for much more Japanese-centric Nissans as opposed to Ghosn's snorefest cars.
"The turnaround of Nissan was remarkable" lol what turnaround? Net profit didn't change much from the year before he became CEO and the cars are still crap.
You ever hear the story of Olympus and the Englishman CEO who spoke NO JAPANESE and they were literally gambling the derivatives markets with BIG BANKS to fund the company and although he went to ONE bank meeting, he was introduced almost as though he was the junior assistant although HE WAS CEO and the meeting was COMPLETELY in Japanese. He was almost THE FALL GUY for the company, was worried about a Japanese mafia hit, but THE PUBLIC in Japan woke up to it all. The Japanese are VERY hateful to any foreigners running THEIR companies, even failing ones, and once he turned it around they likely had ZERO thanks and just wanted THEIR company back. Almost like it's a pet and the vet saved its life but they fire the vet anyway. Because it's THEIR pet.
Yeah, I agree with you, yellow6ird. I also think that he's guilty of what he allegedly did but (like in MANY other cases) no one gave a rat's ass as long as they were happy as well. But the moment he crossed the red line? They just took all his dirty laundry and exposed it to the authorities.
You see the mindset in a lot of Japanese media like comic books and shows where jealousy and... other negative emotions are hidden behind a "mask/face." And the norm is either double standards or strong in/out group bias.
I think you missed out on a lot of information in this video. Such as the takeover attempt by Hari Nada, or the fact that one of the top Nissan Lawyers had his Tokyo house raided and was let go from his position, when he found out that other Japanese Nissan officials were also stealing money.
Yes I completely forgot that part! This is at the end more a politic problem than something else. They thoughts that he would brake, but he didn't. I was so shocked at the time by the complicity of the Japanese press.
By exporting their culture through anime, manga, video games, etc, the Japanese have managed to promote themselves in a positive manner. Japan as a country is something else though, especially their judiciary.
They only show the positive, every society has it flaws and japan is their wack justice system. They can put this man in prison for 100 days but won’t pick up for stalking cases. Their police would rather have the stalking then to make japan crimes to increase.
Same can be said about Americans. Look at their story telling in movies and comics.. a white guy goes to a different nation or race and solves their problem.. isnt that why Americans think they are the world police when no one ever gave them that title.. no one in their last moment goes, "damn i need a white dude to solve my problem"
It works though. They have over 15 times less murder victims per capita than the US... Surely not only because of their legal system but i guess it does play a role...
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The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Many of Mr. Ghosn's perks are things that would be classified as taxable perks in most countries. Having a private jet as a company perk isn't cheap, so one would quickly accrue a sizable tax debt. Nissan probably knew about these dishonest practices, and allowed Ghosn to do what he wanted, because they saw that it gave them a convenient and cheap way of disposing of him if necessary. They knew that the Japanese courts would take their side, especially since they would be ratting out their criminal CEO, who was also a foreigner. Since the CEO would be leaving because of criminal charges, Nissan probably wouldn't need to pay him a severance package. Also, Nissan would avoid a potential humiliating takeover by Renault.
Technically, Renault has the majority control over Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. Even after the Ghosn debacle, Renault still asserts their control by using veto power, so Japanese coup plotters wasted everything. Japanese reputation was tarnished even further. Nothing has changed, while France will remain adamant about this. No change in status quo but Japan's reputation as an economic hub is destroyed.
I'm glad you're talking about Carlos but you have skipped over some important cultural issues. 1. In Japan, the gaijin gets blamed for everything. 2. Japanese people have long memories. 3. The gaijin wasn't supposed to succeed. Keep these points in mind and the whole story of Carlos Ghosn becoming a national piñata makes sense. Also, you need to understand that when Carlos came into Nissan like a wrecking ball he stepped on some pretty big toes in and out of Nissan (especially Suppliers). There was grift all over the place and he cut off the revenue for a whole bunch of corrupt leeches that infested the company. As an example look at door handles. In the late 90's there were like 8 different suppliers of door handles just for Nissan. Carlos cut that down to like 3 in a year. So just imagine how many people this guy pissed off in a short period of time.
@@edbabine Maybe , although as far as automobiles go I still have more trust in japanese made machines than chinese (Japanese motorbikes are more reliable & cheaper to service than european alternatives)
@@edbabine Nothing to do with grudges for past wars or China. It's just old fashioned Japanese mindset. One should never embarrass or question those with power or those senor/older than you. The fact that a foreigner comes in and tramples on tradition could lead to a new business mindset and the old CEOs were not having it. I like living here but innovation let Japan a long time ago.
Really interesting. After his arrest, we start , here in France, to discover his megalomaniac side. And french justice started to check on him.... finally. But for me the most interesting part was the public discovering Japanese justice: 99.9% of sentenced , unlimited time in jail without judgement, very poor human conditions there... On this point, there are few differences with China. And this story teach to many traveler to be VERY careful there
I live in Japan and the justice system here is corrupt to the core. The same with the news, completely controlled by the government. Asian governments in general are not as democratic as they try to pretend. The same thing they were going after Ghosn for is done by many others and the government turns a blind eye because they are Japanese.
99.9%? Mistranslated and misunderstood as Japanese justice system works differently to other countries. Also wrong figure of which u r referring to. Jail without judgement? Wtf r u talking about? Poor human conditions? You mean we don’t have special cells to put in wealthy criminals. Few differences with China? Racist to both countries, like saying USA and Canada are same.
They have a different system. On one side 99,99% means corrupt and unjust system where everyone who got caught in it goes to jail\gets fined. On the other side it can also mean that any case that isn't 99.99% solved and done deal doesn't get to court. Depends on how you spin the numbers.
This sounds like if you're not ok with your salary and your company doesn't want to give you a raise, just steal whatever you can get your hands on and you're good. Which is obviously wrong, you can't make a wrong right by doing another wrong.
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@@oyo4959 I'm pretty sure US doesn't have 99 % Conviction rate. I know it's not perfect but to think you have less than 1% chance of getting acquitted is scary
This story is grossly exaggerating many issues. I live in Japan, and am familiar with many of the people mentioned. First, the properties purchased by Ghosn were bought in Nissan's name, belonged to, and still belong to Nissan, this story doesn't seem to want to share that fact. The $80 million in compensation the story claimed was cooked up between Ghosn and Kelly was actually approved by Nissan's board or directors, and this form of compensation after retirement is common practice in America and Japan. The money he paid to "a middle eastern businessman" was actually the head distributor of Nissan in the region, and the payment created a large positive return for Nissan. Ghosn had good reason to escape. First, he was innocent of the charges, nothing he had done was illegal. But in Japan you are assumed guilty until proven innocent, the burden rests upon you to prove your innocence, not the other way around. And Japan's justice system is unfair by the standards of other nations. Ghosn had already been in custody for a year, his court date for his first charge had been set for the following spring (nearly 3 years after his arrest), and there were rumors that it would be postponed. He would be tried separately for the other charges, meaning that even if he were eventually found innocent on all counts, Ghosn could have spend more than a decade in custody.
He did develop a very good reputation but you must remember it is in the context of Japan. Nissan was a disaster 20 years ago. So bad that even the Japanese government wouldn't touch it. However, how to fix it was not rocket science. Not at all. However Japan's corporate culture is so screwed up, along with much of its regular culture, that no Japanese manager could take the obvious steps necessary. So they brought in a foreigner. Not the first or last time this has been done in Japan. That is why he was able to hit those goals that seems so big. It was fairly simple. Drastic steps, but fairly obvious ones, needed to be taken. It is also not a coincidence that Nissan quality used to be considered on a level, almost, with Toyota and Honda. Since he took over it has hit the basement. Not to mention, at least in the United States, Nissan brand is considered something you buy if you have bad credit, no money, and aren't good at making decisions
+1. Back in the day, 1970s & '80s Datsun was on a similar rise as Toyota ... My 1971 Datsun 510 sedan was a poormans BMW 2002. ..Hi tech for the day.. Man,, that 510 Datsun ruled the day ...
Man, really? I've always loved Nissan. Granted I've never owned a car and probably will because I don't find it practical, but I always thought if I did I'd buy a Nissan, or maybe a Mitsubishi. This is very sad to hear if true. What do you mean by quality? Does this also apply to their luxury vehicles like 350Z and Infinity? In my mind Nissan and Toyota were still on the same level. Toyota just became a bit more of a household name in the west for the Prius.
@@Ace-pc2cm I can only speak for United States. Nissan is nowhere near on a level with Toyota. Quality and reliability levels are far below Toyota and far below where Nissan used to be. Their CVT transmissions is just the most glaring example. Lots of other quality problems. On top of that lots of reports of dealers not wanting to do warranty work. They have to discount heavily to sell. The resale value is not even close to Toyota or Honda. Additionally, in the United States, Mitsubishi is still around but just barely. They were bigger in the 80s, but they've shrunk down to just about nothing
While what you say is somewhat true, turning around any company the size of Nissan (including all of it's global operations) is extremely difficult. It's not knowing what to do, it's knowing how to implement it without taking on major debt and haemorrhaging talent that is the challenge
@@em0_tion there is this idea in Japanese system, that if you were arrested, you must be guilty. Therefore the conviction rate is over 96% (in other civilized countries, this number could be much lower, in low 80). Just doesn't sound like a good system where you'd get justice overall. I did some reading and found out that there are some misconception about it though, so I might have been a bit wrong about it and used too strong words. Seems that there are some myths and people often say that the conviction rate is over 99 per cent, which is something that I thought as well, and seems not the be true. I should probably look more into it, but analysis of criminal systems is pretty tricky tbh
@@miroslavhoudek7085 Hmm, very interesting topic in terms of cultural/judicial differences, especially about *when* is an arrest made (in the investigation process), thank you for sharing. 🤔👍
Key words - "defying Japanese business etiquette at every step." Although Ghosn was successful at turning around the company, he stepped on a lot of toes. For example, in every Japanese company if you are a permanent employee you cannot be fired except for extreme, egregious behavior (ex. - sexual harassment. Alternatively making a mistake and costing the company lots of money would not be a reason). Ghosn, however, not able to fire ineffective employees instead refused to pay bonuses. In all other companies these are automatic. (Not promoting bad employees is a common Japanese practice, or you are promoted in name only). Any foreigner working in a company that doesn't follow Japanese business practices quickly will find themselves out of a job or in a dead end career.
That is very true and I think most people just don't understand the Japanese Business mindset. I have yet to meet another Japanese person who didn't think Nissan backstabbed him. He turned a company around and he wasn't properly compensated. There's tons of politicians and CEOs who burn down businesses yet this one Foreigner saves thousands of jobs and helps the economy, only to get shown the door.
@@WorthlessWinner They have been in recession because US fucked them over with Plaza Accord when they were going to surpass it economically in the 80s. And that same Japanese business etiquette that you are shaming is what led to post-war economic miracle and 4 decades of economic growth and Japan becoming first 2nd largest economy in the 80s and 3rd right now, so I guess there is something right there. Japan isn't at fault that US forced them to sign Plaza Accord. But regardless no country will ever again reach the peak at what Japan was in the 70s/80s/90s when 32 out of 50 biggest companies in the world were Japanese, when Imperial Palace in Tokyo was worth more then entire California and Tokyo was worth 4x the entire US. Not to mention how Japanese were the richest people in the world at that time.
@@llee4225 I worked before for DirecTV and we had one day where we did nothing but brainstorm how to improve the company. The president came and said we could email him directly. I found that the company didn't have a way to refund people's money so I wrote to him and told him. Thereafter I part of a long chain email between the execs discussing how they would fix it. Things like that never happen in Japan. I just applied for a job in Tokyo and one of the questions was I would adapt to Japanese business etiquette. I couldn't imagine a Western company asking any of their foreign employees a question like this.
Beautiful piece of work, as always, Dagogo! You are what RU-vid was meant to be. Oh, and Woodford's book (about 3-4 comments below) would make an amazing episode. Nudge nudge.
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My view is that Goshn is both right, in his conclusion that Nissan planned to oust him, as well as guilty of channeling money into his own pockets (which he felt he deserved). He obviously has unique and valuable skills, yet his success also clouded his judgement.
I'm seeing far too many people defending Ghosn, so here's my take as a car enthusiast and former Ghosn-era Nissan owner. The Nissan revival is far from a rosy story. As mentioned in the video, Nissan laid off thousands of workers, despite Ghosn's luxurious lifestyle. Furthermore, Nissan's revival had to do with 2 things. Firstly, they shared most of their platforms with Renault, which cut R&D costs significantly. They also outsourced their production line to countries with cheaper labour, such as Mexico. Furthermore, they discontinued the Silvia (their last true budget sportscar offering), while the Skyline was castrated and sold primarily as the Infiniti G-series in the States. As such, they cut costs, instead of increasing quality. It's no coincidence their reliability record has plummeted since Ghosn took over. One example is my 2011 Nissan Tiida. Its platform was the same as the Clio and it was made in Mexico. Moreover, it used Takata passenger airbags which were known already from the mid-2000s to have caused injuries and even deaths. When I bought the car, the dealer informed me of that and switched the passenger airbag off. It wasn't until 2019 that Nissan issued recalls for all the cars affected, 15 years into the cars production cycle. Secondly, Nissan's success was largely a fluke. The Micra sales plummeted under Ghosn's regime. The Primera was discontinued altogether while the Almera was eventually replaced by the Tiida/Versa, which didn't sell well at all compared to the Almera and Sunny that came before it. What saved Nissan, was the increase in interest for off-road cars even for urbanites. Nissan cashed in initially with the X-Trail, which with the best will in the world, had modest sales, but their big hit was the Qashqai. The Qashqai was the laziest cash grab possible. It was essentially a Megane with slightly higher ride height marketed as a crossover. In spite of its off-road pretentions, it struggled off-road even by crossover standards and it was unexceptional from every technical standpoint plus the optional CVT gearbox was awful. However, somehow, it sold like hot cakes and became a top-selling car in Europe. Only the more recent versions of it have 4WD and genuine (yet modest) off-road capabilities The only success story quality-wise Nissan had since Ghosn's takeover (at least here in Europe) is the GT-R. Even though it's a very technologically advanced car, it's still built using R&D from past Nissan models. The platform it's built on is similar to that of the 350Z and 370Z (and the Infinity G-series) while the engine derives from the VQ series line that's been around since 1994. Not only that, but the GT-R has barely changed since 2007. If you look at Nissan's past accomplishments, the Ghosn era was one of austerity and stagnancy, not quality and innovation. Ghosn wasn't a true visionary, he was a technocrat with a good understanding of the industry, but complete lack of passion for cars (I wonder if he ever personally drove a Nissan). On top of that, he's a greedy megalomaniac who refuses to pay the price of his crimes.
Having passion for something can lead a person into not thinking logically about what they need to do. Blinded by passion for it. Obviously this dude wasnt an overall great person but he did what had to be done for the company to survive. I see the Nissan nonsense before him as the same shit the Japanese government is doing. Just keep going like we always have despite seeing it isnt working. No no keep doing it becuase thats what you are meant to do. Firing so many people is awful especially in Japan as those people probably been working there for a long time and give everything to these companies but its was needed to cut costs and allow the company to profit and grow later. Why produce 40+ cars and only 3 make any money. Clearly something is wrong, but being a Japanese company they just slog on and refuse to change.
The interesting thing about this story is what would have Nissan have been like if Ghosn had still be in charge because the company 's share price and profits fell drastically after his departure .But Covid has blurred the picture .And Nissan has lost its lead in the EV race to Tesla and others. In my opinion after 20 years Ghosn outstayed his welcome .And trying to marry Renault with Nissan and Mitsubishi into one giant company was never going to work
This case has always fascinated me because while he’s right that the Japanese white collar justice system is corrupt and he was almost certainly targeted a conspiracy … it’s also true that by every indication he *did* commit the crimes
If you can cook the books to make money vanish, you can also cook the books to put that vanishing money under someone else's name. A much safer way to embezzle.
He wasn't the only one committing crimes. Some of the high ranking Japanese employees were doing the same thing, but they faced almost no consequences. It's mostly racism if anything
The partial question is what is the punishment for those crimes? Perhaps there should jail time, but in the vast majority of cases there is simply a fine. Look at the cases in the US, France, and Netherlands: none of them come with jail time but simply a large fine. Japan is the same. I have lived here 19 years as an attorney advising business people about international contracts and American law. I also note the legal cases in Japan. Years ago Fuso (Mitsubishi trucks) had a defective wheel rim design that would explode if overinflated. It killed a couple of people. The company tried to cover it up rather than face responsibility. The government arrested all the executives and they were held in prison until their trials a year later. They were all given suspended sentences. And that was a case where some people died. (In Japan negligence of any kind that kills someone can land you in prison. A mechanic failed to make effective repairs causing it to crash and killed several people on the ground. He was sent to prison for several years for negligent homicide). A few years ago Kobe Steel and Hitachi Chemical in separate incidents (the latter has since been sold) falsified quality claims. (It should be noted that the steel used in Toyota wheel bolts comes from Kobe Steel). These were clear cases of fraud of the companies making shortcuts to save money. None of executives were arrested and the company simply had to pay a fine. Sumitomo and Yazaki joined in scheme to fix prices. The US and Europe both fined the companies and issued arrest warrants for the employees involved. Japan neither fined fined them nor punished and employees involved. This is where the punishment of Ghosn seems so severe, even by Japanese standards. Also not mentioned was that Ghosn at the time was also trying to further tie together Renault and Nissan basically making them one company. Nissan management objected to this but couldn't stop Ghosn, and so the arrest was seen as the only way to remove him from power.
I think Japan's reputation in dealing with foreigners may be at least as equally tarnished as Carlos's reputation. Regardless of any evidence of his culpability, the fact is Nissan used the Japanese government as an extension of their corporate will. And they were all happy to be in bed together on this rendition. Time to cut the gaijin down to size, eh?
Volkswagen in germany does the same thing. Or any other car manufacter that defines part of a countries culture. Or just countries kicking non native companies and their culture(us mostly) out of their country borders.
Everyone's corrupt in this story. It's hilarious how as soon as something can be labeled as racist, all the misdeeds of the target are forgotten and the accuser becomes the devil. This line of reasoning is bordering on the medieval.
I think it was both; as you said, it was a brutal restructure at Nissan and Ghosn was the brains & face of that. It is literally straight out of Machiavelli, appoint someone to do the dirty work, then punish them for their methods , while keeping your own hands clean. Whereas Ghosn had an inflated ego & thought he could do no wrong.
Japan has a false reputation of being some kind of utopia, but people frequently ignore their terrible judicial system. It's even worse if you are a foreigner, as due to their homogenous society they are quite xenophobic
Been a big fan of your channel for years Cold Fusion I hope u see this might i suggest that you put timestamps on the video since you already divide the video into small topics like “Who is this guy?” “ Why japanese gov hunted him ?” etc It really helps getting up to speed on the topic at hand cause sometime i keep coming back to your videos for a refresher. Thank you so much for your hardwork.
He is clearly a business genius and deserves the money he wanted, he asked for it and got denied, he found a viable wqy to get it legally that became "illegal" later just by corrupt politicians, he just did fair play As usual, this is by far the best youtube channel ever, thanks for your work
He wanted to merge Renault and Nissan together, Nissan executives and managers of course didnt want that to happen so they looked for a way to get rid of him and because no one would blame his boss for tax fraud they eventually had to because they didnt want french to take over the japanese brand they were really proud of.
@@mehulgarg7948 I worked for Nissan at the time when many jobs were cut as part of "le cost killer" cost cutting and many tasks were handed off from departments to outside companies. There were many theories in the office about what was going on in Japan and how it came about. Most colleagues, including many in management, thought this way, the topic of conversation was absolutely taboo and it felt as if it was being frantically hushed up. Communication from "above" to the employees was very poor at the time.
@@droidfloid Sounds like a terrible way to run a company. With Tesla dominating the EV market hopefully they find a way to compete in the coming future.
When Ghosn was in prison, the Lebanese government sent 3 diplomatic letters to Japan asking about his treatment which they ignored. When he turned up in Lebanon the Japanese Ambassador had to listen to a long lecture about how rude Japan was for ignoring them.
I think two things might have happened 1) Carlos became egotistical CEO after his success and lost his touch with the game after 2005 2) To remove intolerant executive, Corrupt officials were bribed in japan by top Nissan executives to charge him with fraud which he knowingly committed after he felt no one would dare to question his authority
When a CEO uses the company hey for family holiday its called part of the perks, but Nissan execs wanted him out and built up a case on hot air and hearsay.
It'ss incredible that u do all this all alone.At first i thought there was a whole team behind ur vids. Greetings from Greece💙⛱️ P.S He looks like mr Bean
I was working a temp job at Nissan here in the UK in 2004 when Ghosn came to pay us a visit to talk to the employees. You should have seen it - the managers treated it as if we were in the presence of some kind of god.
Amazing storytelling and insightful details as always! For a future video, may I please request one about the iconic former Chief Executive of Disney, Bob Iger? His stellar rise and performance as Chairman and CEO was honestly quite historic. Thank you for the quality content as always. God bless!
Don't think he's totally to blame. Compared to other CEOs out there, he's not even a bad person. Sure, he loves money and power but there are thousands worse than him for sure. I love Nissan and Renault and imho he did good work for them. Also like Michelin tyres ✌
To make matters worse, other Nissan officials were caught doing the same thing, but aren't facing anywhere near the consequences he is. The only difference is that they are Japanese
From my Renault shareholder's viewpoint (since 2008) I am outraged and disgusted that NO ONE in France supported Carlos Ghosn, one of our last true industry leader. Him, De Margerie from Total, you can't help to suspect a conspiracy.
That's the French way my friend, they use you until you're of no use, then thrown like a dirty tissue, no loyalty, nothing, that is if you're not French of course, and a native French not an immigrant...
@@vermicious6571 Well if Le Pen , the father, had been in charge you bet France would have fought for Carlos Ghosn, De Margerie, Alstom, Pechiney etc... the racism thing is old stinky propaganda from the Left crooks in power ... to stay in power. Mass low quality Immagration if anything is one reason of our deliquescence.
It was an inside job because he wanted a merger between Renault and Nissan. Nissan, short for 日本産業 (Nippon Sangyo) which means "Japan Industries", and the Japanese government saw him as a threat and an embarrassment and found the idea that the French people own 42% of a Japanese first-tier company an existential threat. In their eyes "Japan Industries" shouldn't be headed by a non-Japanese. They'd rather die than adapt if it means putting "foreigners" on an even par. The same goes for women. If Carlos' misconducts were going on for years, Nissan's Board or the accounting firm who audits Nissan would have and should have spotted the error long ago. And if it was happening for several years, the Board, and the Auditor should also be arrested for being complicit in the cover up. Nissan's board and the Japanese government just didn't want the merger and were tired of Ghosn, so here comes a whistleblower, several years too late. With the guilty until certified guilty Japanese legal system, Ghosn was doomed from the start. It was a real-life modern-day ‘game of thrones’ plot and we all witnessed it in real time.
@@Alpha-ro8sc There are only so many ways to return a company to profitability, and unfortunately cutting down on the number of employees, facilities, and subsidiaries that you have is one of the most effective. Does it stink that many people lost their jobs? Absolutely. Is it also a good thing that Nissan was able to turn its ship around and let some keep their jobs? Yes, I would argue that as well. On your point about the Rust Belt in the USA: those "factory towns" were abandoned partially because companies either closed down completely or they moved operations overseas where costs were considerably cheaper. The increase in automation also helped play a part in the Rust Belt's downfall, combined with people stubbornly refusing to get reeducated in a different line of work.
@@spencercarruth9706 I understand your perspective. It seems easy to start over now. Fresh out of school, no wife, kids, mortgage or family living down the street. Put yourself in the shoes. Do you think you would have the energy or desire to take the steps necessary @ 50 years old? 40? Sure. Some folks did just that. The Dads moved 100s of miles away for the job. Wife & kids stayed in the community so the kids could finish school...the one they grew up in. Shipping manufacturing overseas saves a buck, but the human cost far outweighs the short term gains. I have watched our society slowly get tricked into believing the illusion over the past 40 years. Live to work, not work to live. Chase the dollar & forget any human bonds. Believe me, I fell for it as well. Left home as soon as I could, didn't look back. Even felt sorry for my parents because I was making more money @ 25 than they were combined. 4 years ago I was helping fold the laundry & didn't know who's shirts were my Son's or Daughter's. Because I never saw them wearing the clothes I bought... Outsourcing the American dream is what I call it. I wish you well & hope you can avoid this deception.
@@Alpha-ro8sc Why would you feel sorry for your parents? They managed to keep you alive and educated long enough while earning less than you. I would be impressed rather than sorry or is this an American thing?
CG remains my role model operations manager and chief executive. Business is ruthless and there aren't any sacred cows. His very escape shows how gutsy an risk ready he is to take situations into his hands and rise or fall in his own terms. I respect that. He is no worse than any other most successful executives in the industry, the difference is Nissan board became insecure and apprehensive of his rise and success. In conjunction with their government, he was rigged out of the company by intimidation an character assassination
I'm kinda on the fence here. The guy turned a company around and did so making a lot of people angry. That will inevitably happen with the amount of downsizing he did on top of being a foreigner assigned to be CEO of a Japanese company. The money being funneled in for his own pursuits is where I think the most damning evidence can happen. I imagine when put under a critical lens every CEO could be given similar accusations which is why I'm kinda indifferent about this. Nowhere near as blatant as Elizabeth Holmes was. This man could very well have been the Lee Iacocca of the east and been framed over disgruntled parties.
I don't believe there is any conspiracy here to bring him down at all. THREE countries discovered fraud linked to him which makes me think he's as guilty as sin. Maybe he should have stuck with the obscenely large salary and compensation package he was legally entitled too.
All I know is that I kind of feel bad for the ex special forces dude and his son. Don't get me wrong, they knew what they were getting themselves into; but, it seems like some of the Japanese government's frustration for not being able to capture Carlos was taken out on them. Which, in all fairness, is well....fair. Hopefully japanese prison doesn't suck as bad as many American prisons. Who knows.
@@drxym yeah. People here only talk about the Japanese government and Nissan tried to backstabbed him. But, there are USA+Nissa and France+Renault as well. So, okay, maybe Nissa was trying to backstabbed him and turned him to the Japanese and US government. What about Renault? They're a French company. Are they trying to backstab him as well?
The problem is that other high ranking Nissan employees were also using company funds and diverging them into their personal accounts, however none of them faced any serious consequences
You can't deny with the way he hit company goals successfully, he now has a burning new goal in taking down the companies he's worked for and I believe he will succeed.
Usually I have no love for CEOs, high profile celebrities, multimillionaires, or their ilk, but from what I've seen and read about Carlos, he got the littlest simpathy from me, as I do believe that while he isn't the best person in the world, he was a scapegoat/victim of the japanese government, which went way below human decencym
Would've been nice if you also brought up the findings of the Nissan lawyer who was also booted by the company for finding evidence of Nissan's own Japanese executive's corruption and schemes to target Ghosn. To hear both sides of the story.
You mention "he flew from Japan to Turkey, then boarded a plane to Istanbul" "He walked out of the airport in Istanbul confident he was free. Lebanon doesn't have an extradition treaty with Japan". I found this part confusing, Istanbul is a city in Turkey. Are you implying Istanbul is in Lebanon, or that or that somehow he got from Istanbul to Lebanon? Great video btw
By the time he reached Turkey he was likely already free, because I doubt Turkey would extradite him go Japan. He probably went further to Lebanon because Lebanon is a million times better and also because he had already lived there.
@@Ace-pc2cm Lebanon is not million times better than Turkey, it is the other way around but for him Lebanon is a safe place. They will never handle him to the Japanese
12:56 The fact USA arrested them on home soil and extradited them to a country with such a bad judicial system says a lot. Isn't one of the mandatory requirements of extradition that you don't extradite to a country which violates human rights?
They don't even extradite to an ally like the UK. Read about the Anne Sacoolas case . 'The United States has rejected Britain’s request for the extradition of an American woman who fled the country after she was involved in an accident in which a teenager died last year.'
Great summary of this fascinating story. I found your video well balanced between the 2 facettes of that person : CG was quite popular in France for his multiple & impressive achievements. He was as well popular in Japan (you mentioned it). But cumulation so much power seems a bit strange; it seems it was never enough. The episode of japan jail made a lot of noise in France: French media spoke about an unfair japan legal system. Is it true ? I don't know.
id say the final question posed by CF at the end, the answer has to be both! Carlos did an Icarus and flew too close to the sun... meanwhile Nissan did a Japanese move and tried to metaphorically knife him in the back. Frankly they deserve each other but for us... its a great story
I feel like he was treated harshly, because this feels night and day compared to theranos trial which is nothing more than a joke. Now, I like to imagine what would happen if Holmes was in Japan waiting for a trial, imagine how many decades she’d face… I also do believe that Carlos may be guilty of some allegations against him, (but certainly not all), And In the end, I think what he failed to see is that, Different countries have different types of government, he would have been given a voice if it was the American government (and would have been able to prove that he did not deserved to be imprisoned). However, this is how the world is, whether we all like it or not, like In almost every conflict; both sides have their errors and downsides…
Wait, you are an American? You have the largest prison population in the world. Unarmed people get shot by the police during a traffic stop. Kids playing with toy guns in the park get shot dead by the police. Don't you realize how dim what are saying sounds to non-Americans?
@@sandhogssundays I’m not American, I just wanted to say that Ghosn didn’t have a fair trial… and yeah, America is another shit-show, (I just mentioned the Holmes’ trial, but if I were to continue, I’d just say Unit-731 where They literally made the psychos who did one of the worst (if not the worst) atrocities in humanity go Scot-free with no charges at all, just because they got the research documents… It’s still not recognised today by the US smh,)
so... he stole 140 million usdollar worth of yen. he said he was given much lower salary than other CEO and and by doing so he evade a higher tax and still living a lifestyle greater than higher paying CEO. from the video all he did is axe people, reducing budget for salary, and triple the work load of people who dont get axed. what a hero.
Who else is one of the OG coldfusion followers from the early days? One of the best channels IMO. The sheer amount of information and its quality speaks volumes of the the effort and passion he puts into his research
A big issue is that he was held in prison for 23 days without being charged with a crime, and interrogated for 6+ hours each day there without a lawyer present trying to force him to confess. He didn't yield they were forced to release him because they didn't have enough evidence to press charges. Then arrested him again in 4am raid on his home for "something different" he spent another 23 days in jail without being charged with a crime, continued daily interrogation sessions. He still didn't yield, then they were finally forced to charge with *something* set the initial hearing for a few months in the future and ordered him to stay in jail for the duration. After a couple months, he still hadn't cracked. So Japan moved his trial back by an entire year, said he'd be forced to stay in prison for the year basically until he confessed. Thanks to international outrage, they moved him to house arrest with cameras everywhere. He escaped because he believed Japan would never have a trial and continue to jail him trying to coerce a confession for the remainder of his life. Which seems accurate.
He was probably both a good CEO and fudging his expenses, these things are not mutually exclusive. He may also have been singled out for punishment, but most high level prosecutions are political in nature, its just the way it is. Fleeing does make him look extremely guilty, as does the charges brought in France and the US.
Honestly, it's wild to me, despite how much he was making compared to the "average person", that he was making so little compared to other CEOs despite literally turning the company around. What's $10m extra per year to Nissan when they profited $560m just last year. There's a chance they wouldn't even be around, or nowhere near in a good of a spot today, had another company or person taken over. Could be wrong, just my unsolicited 2 cents. I'm no expert in anything.
A crooked system attacking a crooked man, anything is fair game honestly. I don’t blame him for doing what he did. If anyone else in the world had the means they would have done the same.
If I had the means I wouldn't have cheated at all with compensation. But I'm also not the kind of person who would ever have had any ability or desire to become a hyper rich powerful businessman
There is a clear bias against foreign executives compared to Japanese executives, Kobe Steel management muddled the books for 40yrs the company got a fine the executives gave a deep bow and it was back to business.
Its hard to judge whats truly real cuz Carlos Ghosn does seem very shady but at the same time Japan has a shady judicial system and insane work culture so 🤷🏽♂️ He aint getting caught or extradited unless he slips up and goes somewhere thats very friendly to Japan. We will also see how this goes for Nissan & the whole Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi thing
I think the man is brilliant, just listen to him speak. I believe that he outlived his usefulness and may have taken the bait that was laid out for him over a period of time.
Whenever there is a dispute between a government and an individual, I tend to believe the individual is on the right side. Or at least in the "less wrong" side.
Nissan used to be a great brand, easily the rival of Honda and Toyota. But for about the last 15 years, they've been in a steady decline with regard to their quality (for example, EVERY mechanic knows that you never buy a Nissan with a CVT because those transmissions are absolute garbage). This leads me to believe that Carlos wasn't the brilliant business savior that he was made out to be. He simply weaseled his way to the top and got greedy. That's not to say that I don't agree with him about the Japanese legal system. But in this case, I don't think they're wrong for going after him.
Honda was never as big or as successful as Nissan. This is why the Japanese government wanted Mitsubishi to partner with Nissan and Subaru & Mazda with Toyota.
@@trent7080 I don't know what you mean by that. Honda isn't as big, clearly... but successful? Honda is regarded as one of the most reliable car brands on the planet (even over Nissan and second only to Toyota). The Honda Civic has been generally regarded as the best small car in the world, for decades, with reliability that is only matched by the Toyota Corolla. That seems pretty successful to me.
2:52 This was a dark day for Nissan. Nothing good has come from the company since the takeover. The once great and innovative company known for a great range of long lasting, durable engines and vehicles is a husk of its former self thanks to Carlos and Renault. He was not liked by Nissan or the public & true Nissan owners. They currently don't have any decent market share in any of their markets and a weak product portfolio. Quality is now terrible, warranty is not honoured and longterm customers with multiple repeat sales behind them are turning away in droves to other brands. It would have been better for the company to quietly slip out the back and end it all.
I remember the Sunderland Nissan plant having severe problems matching Renault build quality when the 'merger' came about. They really struggled to get it that low.
@@Ayrshore Ha ha ha. Well that's a bit of a revelation indeed. Sunderland was not one of the Nissan group's star plant as it was. We Aussies got the UK built Micra, all our other cars were still Japanese, the glove box was usually already broken when they arrived for pre delivery 🙂
I think character assassinations and cancel culture have gotten out of hand. Anyone trying to do ambitious projects can so easily be taken down by adversaries. The media is way too sensationalist. I’m personally exhausted by the endlessly antagonistic culture we’ve found ourselves in.
Can you do a collaboration video with Jake Tran? You two have very similar topics for videos and it would be nice to see two of my favorite youtubers work together
When I first heard of this, I thought it was the Nissin Noodle company, who makes some of the greatest ads I've ever seen in my life. I'm mostly relieved that they're still clean now.
I wanted to watch his live conference over at RU-vid at the time, but there were too many Koreans from the mainland spamming racial comment towards the Japan which had nothing to do with the actual context of the stream and couldn't bear to watch. Thank you for going over the topic.
He’s the one that shutdown the Nissan plant less than 100 miles from my house, it’s freaking huge man. And I’m sure it will be an Amazon hub or Tesla Factory in the next 5 years.
I'm not an expert on the case, but from the video, I can tell that something is not right. If Ghosn's Salary was US$9.9 Millions, then he can comfortably pay his sister, buy houses around the world and much more. A man in his position and with such a career would know better than break the law through paying for perks with company money, while he is fully capable of paying for all this with his own money.
Many companies give extreme perks. But regardless of his spending habits, it's NOTHING. Read the story of Olympus were they put an Englishman CEO who understood NO JAPANESE as THE FALL GUY while they were using company shares (of the failing company) as collateral for borrowed money to gamble that borrowed money on the DERIVATIVES MARKET to keep the company afloat! They often run failing companies with RECKLESS financial stuff in an attempt to keep them afloat but do anything to KEEP foreign CEOs from running "their" companies. They get rid of them for any reason as quick as they can, or use them as fall guys. The fact is HEAPS of guys in Nissan were taking money out illegally but the only one they DONE something about was the guy who fired tons of people....
You still gotta admire the balls on this guy. He pretty much gave the middle finger to three governments and is chillin out in a non-extradition country.
In my view.. it is very unfair to completely wipe out all the good he did to company, which was a sinking ship at one point of time.. yes some loophole in regulations as well as within organization's control systems eventually let it happen at the first place. He may be guilty which time would tell.
If you save a kitten but then steal a hundred million dollars, are you a thief? Of course you are. You are a filthy thief who deserves to be punished. A kitten saving thief.
@@PresidentialWinner But that hundred million dollars is coming from that kitten he saved The kitten wouldn't even existed until now if he didn't save him
Just because you make money for a company, doesn't give you leave to missappropriate money and do anything illegal. To the people saying that the Japanese prosecutors were too strict, the turn of events showed that they were not strict enough.
It would seem that if Carlos have been charged with similar crimes in France and US would confirm that he probably have done the same if not more in Japan. Of cause the corporation would have to report and work with the government on reported crimes. Compared with US criminal prosecution, most executives get away free or lightly sentenced. Think about the junk bond and subprime mortgage scams where executive are not prosecuted but give themselves bonus for not leaving and firing the lower level employees?
Seems like a mix of the 2. Paper trail is there for the money that he believes he deserves , but the set up also sounds like an ambush . Things may have also been exaggerated by his co workers to push him completely out of the picture . All in all shows how ungrateful Nissan was after he saved them from bankruptcy.
That went sideways real quick! The firing of 20k+ employees and shutting unprofitable factories is rather easy. In regards to his renumeration he should have resigned after he completed his turnaround and go to a company that isn't sinking. We all have choices, some are obvious.
Thats the thing Daniel, culling 20,000 people isn't easy. Wanting to stay and keep a brand from going back to the dark old days isn't a sign of weakness but of strength and determination.
No CEO is innocent, especially superstars like that. But - using a company jet and throwing private parties with the company's funds is like the lightest form of corruption imaginable. Given everything else he's done, I'm highly sympathetic to his story, I believe he did the right thing by escaping and I hope he gets back to work. The world needs brilliant business minds - with that comes more and better stuff available for the rest of us.
For the question at the end..i think the answer is both...he did take Nissan to new heights and felt undervalued by them...instead of just quitting he decided to stick it to them by taking what he felt was his
Ok the guy who replaced him, a Japanese, was effectively charge by justice on the same charges as Gohsn. He never made prison, he just said : « I didn’t know ». You accuse Carlos, but listen more to what he said. I am in Japan for 21 years. This story is not just for more like or clicks!!! I do love and follow your work. But there is just more here, believe me!
