Nissan's Carlos Ghosn: Hero No More

Carlos Ghosn was the global car industry’s rock star. He turned around Nissan and then went to Europe and fixed Renault. He teamed with Kirk Kerkorian in an attempt to get GM (GM) to join in a three-way global alliance. He would almost certainly have been the chief. The GM board was not buying, and Mr. Ghosn went away. So did Mr. Kerkorian, eventually.

Now, Mr. Ghosn has been stripped of his US responsibilities at Nissan. Sales in the company’s home market are so poor that his star no longer shines so brightly. Nissan’s stock chart over the last month is ugly with a share price drop from about 1560 yen to 1270. Renault’s is not much prettier.

After GM’s time in the penalty box from mid-2005 to mid-2006, it now appears that Mr. Ghosn and Nissan have their turn there.

GM’s board took a gamble by turning down Mr. Ghosn’s offer, but, with the stock up over 30% in the last year, and a profitable Q4 06, they made the right choice.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.