Nissan CFO Stephen Ma to step down as carmaker faces raft of challenges

By Masatsugu Horie and Reed Stevenson 

Nissan Motor Co. Chief Financial Officer Stephen Ma is set to step down from his position, people with knowledge of the matter said, marking yet another executive change at a challenging time for the Japanese carmaker. 

It’s not clear whether Ma may be demoted or leave the company, said one person, asking not to be identified because the move hasn’t been announced. The change, which comes 17 months after Ashwani Gupta left as Nissan’s chief operating officer, follows an announcement earlier this month that it will eliminate 9,000 jobs and cut a fifth of its manufacturing capacity.  

As a result, Chief Executive Officer Makoto Uchida will be left as the sole top-level C-suite executive at a time when Nissan has drawn the attention of one of the most influential activist investors in Japan, Effissimo Capital Management Pte. Although six years have passed since the dramatic arrest and ouster of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, the carmaker remains mired in management upheaval. 

Ma declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for Nissan. Shares of Nissan, which are down down almost 40 per cent this year, were mostly unchanged in Tokyo on Monday. 

An outdated lineup, elevated spending on sales incentives and a lack of hybrids in North America have led the Japanese carmaker to slash jobs and production. Nissan now sees its operating income at ¥150 billion ($1 billion) for the fiscal year ending in March, down 70 per cent from its prior forecast.  

Ma joined Nissan in 1996 in North America and worked in financial roles in China and Japan before being promoted to CFO in December of 2019, alongside Uchida and Gupta. Jun Seki, who was also made co-COO at the time, departed quickly thereafter. 

Nissan’s market capitalization, which stands at about ¥1.5 trillion, has been shrinking since peaking at almost ¥6 trillion in 2015.  It’s now Japan’s fifth-largest carmaker as measured by market value after Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Suzuki Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp. 

Nissan announced last month that Guillaume Cartier would be promoted to chief performance officer as of Dec. 1.