Japan’s Nissan to double global job cuts to over 10,000

TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co Ltd plans to expand job cuts to over 10,000 to help turn around its business, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, as profit continues to plunge while the automaker grapples with management upheaval. The global plan includes the 4,800 job cuts announced in May and will mostly be at factories overseas with low utilisation rates, the person said. It will be announced along with financial results on Thursday, said the person, who declined to be identified as the information was still private. Nissan declined to comment on the job cuts. Its shares ended the day up nearly 1.0 per cent. Analysts expect Nissan to post one of its weakest quarterly performances since the 2008 global financial crisis when it announces its first-quarter earnings on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Nikkei business daily reported the automaker would report operating profit of “several billion yen” for the quarter, around a 90 per cent drop from 109.1 billion yen a year earlier. Analysts estimate a decline of 64 per cent. The job cuts, exceeding 7 per cent of Nissan’s 138,000-strong workforce, come as Nissan struggles to improve dismal profit margins in the United States, a key market where former Chairman Carlos Ghosn for years pushed to aggressively grow market share during his time as chief executive. — Reuters