Shareholders Of Nissan Murka At The GMS, Demand Accountability Of Management Amid Fantastic Losses

Nissan held the 126th General Meeting of Shareholders today. The meeting was attended by 1,071 shareholders and lasted for 3 hours 6 minutes. (Doc. Nissan Global)

JAKARTA Nissan Motor's annual General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS) on Tuesday was marked by anger and strong demands from shareholders against the company's declining performance. They voiced frustration over the deepening crisis in Japan's third-largest car company, demanding greater management accountability.

Launching Reuters, Tuesday, June 24, this time the GMS will be the first for Nissan's new boss, Ivan Espinosa, to replace Makoto Uchida as CEO in April. Big pressure is now on the shoulders of Espinosa, to stop the sharp decline experienced by Nissan.

In the past year, Nissan's share price has fallen by around 36 percent, and dividend payments have been suspended. Nissan reported a net loss of USD 4.5 billion (approximately IDR 73.6 trillion) in fiscal year, and it is worrying that there is no guarantee the company will again make a profit this year. In fact, Nissan refused to provide a full year's profit estimate, and estimated a first-quarter loss of 200 billion yen (approximately USD 1.38 billion or IDR 21.2 trillion).

Although Nissan was in a difficult condition and had a big loss, during the General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS), the shareholders did not approve of several important proposals submitted. One of the rejected proposals came from an active shareholder group (of often referred to as "inactive shareholders"). Their proposal is to force Nissan to do something against Nissan Shatai, a company whose majority of shares are owned by Nissan and whose shares are also traded on the stock exchange.

Espinosa alone has outlined plans for major cuts, including the closure of seven factories and a total cuts of 20,000 jobs, or about 15 percent of Nissan's total workforce. However, this decision sparked sharp criticism. A shareholder accused the board of directors of transferring its responsibility to frontline workers by cutting jobs while maintaining their own position. He stressed that the board of directors must also be overhauled so as not to lose the trust of shareholders and company employees. Other shareholders also complained about cutting dividends.