Honda is willing to revive its fallen and highly anticipated merger with Nissan on the condition that the latter’s CEO, Makoto Uchida, resigns.
BACK AND FORTH
Another chapter in the Honda-Nissan merger arc begins as the Financial Times reported that Honda is willing to restart merger talks with Nissan if CEO Makoto Uchida resigns. Merger plans fell through earlier this February when Honda proposed to acquire Nissan as a subsidiary instead of merging as equal partners.
Furthermore, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe allegedly created this condition after discovering how mishandled the company’s finances were. Additionally, Honda stated that they prefer negotiating with a leader “who can more effectively manage internal opposition.”
“We anticipated that our proposal of share exchanges would be quite a difficult decision for Nissan [to accept], and we considered the possibility that the agreement might be withdrawn,” said Mibe.
Meanwhile, Uchida has been under the microscope since talks with Honda failed. Nissan’s board members and partner Renault have been pressuring the CEO to step down this year. The timing of a potential Uchida resignation is still up for discussion between Nissan’s board of directors. According to Fortune, Uchida is willing to step down if both shareholders and employers agree that the CEO is a deterrent in the company’s success.
Despite this, Uchida intends to remain Nissan’s CEO until the end of his contract in 2026. “My mission is to stop the deterioration and turnaround the performance and then hand on the baton to my successor,” he said. “Just stepping down without any improvement is a bit irresponsible.”
WHO WILL SAVE NISSAN NOW?
With Nissan’s fate up in the air, rumours of a former Tesla exec stepping in to save the sinking ship have emerged. Hiromichi Mizuno, an ex-member of Tesla’s board of directors, allegedly organised a group of fellow Japanese investors to urge Tesla into rescuing Nissan. Mizuno has since denied these allegations on X and refuted rumours of Tesla’s interest in Nissan.
Fortunately for Nissan, negotiations are not completely terminated. Technically, both companies are still discussing a “strategic partnership” and only the proposal of a Nissan acquisition was rejected.
According to Uchida, Nissan is still open to partnerships with other companies as the company can no longer survive by itself. The CEO is reportedly open to exploring a partnership with Hon Hai Precision or Foxconn, an electronics manufacturer based in Taiwan.
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