PARIS: Carlos Ghosn may no longer be in the driver’s seat at Renault, but he will remain at the center of vigorous negotiations in the coming weeks over severance pay potentially worth tens of millions of euros.
The French government, which owns 15 percent of the carmaker and 22 percent of voting rights, has already warned it doesn’t intend to let the former CEO walk away with the kind of lavish payouts that he is accustomed to.
“I can tell you we will be extremely vigilant, as the largest shareholder, over the exit conditions that will be set by the board,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told AFP at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland this week.
Ghosn had already raised hackles in France as one of its highest-paid business chiefs, and a huge payout for an executive sitting in a Tokyo jail wouldn’t go down well amid the “yellow vest” protests over declining living standards.
The 64-year-old Franco-Brazilian-Lebanese executive was arrested in November on charges of under-reporting tens of millions of dollars in income over eight years as head of Renault’s alliance partner Nissan.
He has denied that and other financial misconduct claims and his trial may still be months away.
He tendered his resignation at Renault this week, having already been sacked as chairman of Nissan and the third carmaker in the alliance, Mitsubishi.
But his eventual payout was not discussed by Renault directors when they met Thursday to name his replacements, Thierry Bollore as chief executive and Jean-Dominique Senard as board chairman.
“If his payout is being discussed later, it’s because his resignation was immediate and not negotiated,” said Loic Dessaint of the Proxinvest shareholder advisory group.
“That’s rare,” Dessaint said, suggesting that by doing so, Ghosn was hoping to benefit immediately from any pre-discussed “golden handshake.”
“But Renault also has a strong hand to play, because it can file a lawsuit and claim damages” against its former chief if he is found guilty in the Nissan case, he said.
As with most CEOs, Ghosn’s pay was a mix of fixed payouts coupled with performance-linked stock grants and cash top-ups.
In 2016 the executive known as a “cost-killer” for slashing outlays and jobs took home a combined 15.4 million euros ($17.6 million) from his roles at Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi.
Seven million euros came from Renault alone, drawing the ire of French officials, and last February Ghosn was forced to accept a 30 percent pay cut in order to secure another four-year mandate as CEO.
According to the automaker’s annual report, Ghosn’s resignation means he must forfeit any shares granted for meeting performance milestones.
“But what counts is what they will decide about shares already attributed but not yet awarded,” said Dessaint, saying Ghosn could claim a trove of 380,000 shares currently worth some 21 million euros.
“It’s the same story with deferred stock grants, worth four to five million euros,” he calculates.
Company officials have refused to comment on the eventual indemnities.
But a source close to the matter said that given the circumstances of Ghosn’s exit, “we’re going to reduce them as much as we can.”
Even if an agreement is reached on the standard retirement package, lawyers will still be wrangling over two other multi-million-euro questions.
The first involves a non-compete clause that provides two years of total pay — both fixed and variable — in exchange for not joining another carmaker.
“Renault would be pretty stupid to pay,” Dessaint said, “because the risk is basically nil since he’s in prison.”
Ghosn’s lawyers have lost two requests for bail, and under Japanese legal rules he could remain behind bars for months before his trial even opens.
The second bone of contention involves a retirement pension that would be payable each year to Ghosn until his death.
According to Dessaint, Ghosn is eligible to receive 765,000 euros a year after leading Renault since 2005, forging an alliance which sold more cars than any of its rivals last year.
First challenge for Renault’s new chiefs: Ghosn’s payout
First challenge for Renault’s new chiefs: Ghosn’s payout
- Ghosn had already raised hackles in France as one of its highest-paid business chiefs, and a huge payout for an executive sitting in a Tokyo jail wouldn’t go down well amid the “yellow vest” protests
- The 64-year-old Franco-Brazilian-Lebanese executive was arrested in November on charges of under-reporting tens of millions of dollars in income over eight years
US pump prices surge as Iran war upends global energy supply
- Fuel prices jump over 10 percent as oil prices surge
- Analysts predict further price rises due to market conditions
MARIETTA/NEW YORK : US retail gasoline and diesel prices are soaring as the US-Israel war with Iran constrains oil and fuel exports, which could be a political test for President Donald Trump’s Republican Party ahead of midterm elections in November.
Fuel prices jumped more than 10 percent this week as oil rose above $90 a barrel, its highest in years, adding pain at the pump for consumers already strained by inflation.
Trump on Thursday shrugged off higher gasoline prices in an interview with Reuters, saying “if they rise, they rise.”
The president had vowed to lower energy prices and unleash US oil and gas drilling during his second term, but much of his tenure has been marked by volatility and uncertainty amid shifts in policies like tariffs and geopolitical turmoil.
The US is the world’s largest oil producer. It is a major exporter but also imports millions of barrels a day since it is the world’s largest oil consumer.
As of Friday, the national average prices for regular gasoline stood at $3.32 a gallon, up 11 percent from a week ago and the highest since September 2024, according to data from the motorists association AAA. Diesel was at $4.33, up 15 percent from a week ago, surging to the highest since November 2023.
Midwest, south feel the pinch
US motorists in parts of the Midwest and the South, including states that supported Trump, have seen some of the steepest increases in fuel costs since the conflict in Iran started.
In Georgia, a swing state, average retail gasoline prices rose 40.1 cents a gallon over the past week, according to fuel tracking site GasBuddy.
Andrenna McDaniel, a health care insurance worker in South Fulton, Georgia, said she was surprised to see prices skyrocket overnight.
“They jumped up so quickly,” she said on Friday, adding that she does not agree with the war at all.
McDaniel, a Democrat, said that for now she is only driving for the most important things, and feels lucky that she works from home so she does not have to drive as much as other people do. Georgia voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
Trump voter Richard Soule, 69, a US Air Force veteran and a retired firefighter, said a little pain at the pump is worth Trump’s efforts to protect America.
“When President Trump went in there and bombed out their nuclear, and they just thumbed their nose at it, I believe he did the right thing at the right time,” Soule said on Friday as he filled up his Ford F-150 truck in Marietta, Georgia.
Other states, including Indiana and West Virginia have seen prices rise by 44.3 cents and 43.9 cents, respectively.
Prices may rise further
More pain may be on the way, analysts said, as oil prices continue to trend upward. On Friday, US oil futures settled at $90.90 a barrel, up nearly $10 and the biggest single-day rise since April 2020.
“Given current market conditions, the national average price of gasoline could climb toward $3.50 to $3.70 per gallon in the coming days if oil continues rising and supply disruptions persist,” GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said.
The disruptions in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade conduit, have boosted demand for US oil abroad, which in turn has driven up prices for domestic refiners too.
“The US has weaned itself off of its dependence on Middle Eastern crude, but obviously Asian refineries, and to a lesser extent, European refineries have not,” Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst with OPIS. “That’s what you’re seeing happen in the spot market, because the demand for US exports rise, and so the price rise.”
Seasonal factors could add further pressure. Gasoline prices typically go up in the spring and peak in the summer due to higher gasoline demand and production of summer-blend gasoline, which is more costly to produce. Diesel fuel saw an even more aggressive jump since Iran began retaliating against US and Israeli strikes, significantly disrupting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Global diesel inventories have remained in tight supply due to heavy demand for heating and power generation during a prolonged winter in the US and other parts of the world and a structural tightness of refining capacity. Sticker prices of everything from food to furniture go up when the cost of diesel goes up, as the fuel is mainly used in freight transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, and global shipping, analysts said.
“In a world where buzzword seems to be ‘affordability’, that is certainly not going to help,” Cinquegrana said.
