Carlos Ghosn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carlos Ghosn
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Ghosn in 2014
|
|
| Born | 9 March 1954 Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
|
| Citizenship |
|
| Alma mater |
|
| Spouse(s) |
Rita Kordahi
(m. 1984; div. 2012)Carole Nahas
(m. 2016) |
| Children | 4, including Caroline |
Carlos Ghosn (born on March 9, 1954) is a famous businessman who used to lead big car companies. He was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Michelin North America, and also led Renault, Nissan, AvtoVAZ, and Mitsubishi Motors. He is known for helping these companies become successful.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Carlos Ghosn's family came from Lebanon. His grandfather, Bichara Ghosn, moved from Lebanon to Brazil when he was 13. Bichara became a successful businessman in Brazil, working with rubber, farm products, and even airplanes.
Carlos's father, Jorge Ghosn, was a diamond trader. Carlos was born in Porto Velho, Brazil, in 1954. When he was about two years old, he got sick. His mother moved with him to Rio de Janeiro. Later, in 1960, when Carlos was six, he and his mother and sister moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where more family lived.
Carlos went to school in Lebanon at the Jesuit school Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour. After that, he studied in Paris, France. He became an engineer, graduating from two important schools: the École Polytechnique in 1974 and the École des Mines de Paris in 1978.
Career in the Car Industry
Working at Michelin
After finishing his studies in 1978, Carlos Ghosn worked for 18 years at Michelin, a very large tire company in Europe. He started by training in different factories in France and Germany. In 1985, when he was only 30, he became the chief operating officer (COO) for Michelin's business in South America. A COO helps manage the daily operations of a company.
His boss, François Michelin, asked Carlos to fix the South American business, which was losing money. Carlos created teams with people from different countries and backgrounds. He believed that learning from different cultures helps a business grow stronger. This approach worked, and the company started making money again in just two years.
After his success in South America, Carlos became the CEO of Michelin North America in 1990. He helped the company reorganize after it bought another tire company, Uniroyal Goodrich.
Leading Renault
In 1996, Carlos Ghosn joined Renault, a big French car company. He was in charge of many important areas like buying parts, research, engineering, and manufacturing. He also managed Renault's business in South America. Carlos made big changes at Renault, which helped the company become profitable again by 1997. He was known for getting good results, just like he did at Michelin.
Transforming Nissan
.jpg)
In 1999, Renault and Nissan formed a partnership called the Renault–Nissan Alliance. Renault bought a part of Nissan. Carlos Ghosn became the chief operating officer (COO) of Nissan in 1999, and then its chief executive officer (CEO) in 2001. At that time, Nissan was in big trouble, losing a lot of money. Many people thought it was impossible to save the company.
Carlos Ghosn introduced his "Nissan Revival Plan" in 1999. He promised that Nissan would make a profit again by 2000 and reduce its debt. He even said he would resign if these goals were not met. His plan included closing some factories in Japan and reducing the number of suppliers.
Carlos Ghosn was one of the first non-Japanese people to lead a Japanese car company. He made big changes to Nissan's way of working. He stopped promoting people based on how long they had worked there and changed the company's main language to English. He also broke up Nissan's old system of working only with certain suppliers.
His plan worked very well! In the first year, Nissan made a profit of $2.7 billion. Within three years, Nissan became one of the most profitable car makers. Carlos met all his goals for the "Nissan Revival Plan" even earlier than expected.
In 2002, Carlos announced new goals called "Nissan 180." He wanted to increase global sales by one million cars, achieve a profit margin of at least 8%, and get rid of all debt by 2005. Nissan achieved all these goals too. By 2003, Nissan had no debt, and its profit margin was very high.
In 2005, Carlos Ghosn became the CEO of both Renault and Nissan at the same time. This made him the first person in the world to lead two companies on the Fortune Global 500 list at once.
Carlos Ghosn also strongly supported electric cars. In 2007, he decided that the Renault–Nissan Alliance would invest a lot of money in making zero-emission electric cars for everyone. He believed that electric cars were the only way to allow more people to own cars without harming the environment. The Nissan Leaf, an electric car, was launched in 2010. By 2017, the Renault–Nissan Alliance was a world leader in electric vehicles.
After the big earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, Carlos Ghosn played a key role in helping Nissan recover. He visited affected factories and encouraged people to be optimistic.
In 2012, Carlos Ghosn also became the chairman of AvtoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer. Renault and Nissan worked closely with AvtoVAZ, and the alliance took control of the company in 2014.
In 2017, Carlos Ghosn stepped down as CEO of Nissan but remained its chairman.
Leading Mitsubishi
In 2016, Nissan bought a large part of Mitsubishi Motors. Carlos Ghosn became the chairman of Mitsubishi as well. His goal was to help Mitsubishi recover after some problems. This partnership created the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, which became one of the world's largest car groups.
Personal Life
Carlos Ghosn was first married to Rita Kordahi, and they had four children: Caroline, Nadine, Maya, and Anthony. They divorced in 2012. In 2016, he married Carole Nahas. They celebrated their wedding at the beautiful Palace of Versailles in France.
Carlos Ghosn is known for working very hard. He used to travel a lot between Paris and Tokyo. Japanese media even called him "Seven-Eleven" because he worked from early morning until late at night. He has citizenship in Lebanon, Brazil, and France.
He speaks four languages fluently: Arabic, English, French, and Portuguese. He has also studied Japanese. Carlos Ghosn is a partner in a winery in Lebanon called Ixsir.
People in Lebanon even thought he might become a presidential candidate in 2007, but he has said he has no interest in politics.
In the Media
.jpg)
Carlos Ghosn's life story was turned into a superhero comic book series in Japan called The True Story of Carlos Ghosn. His face has even appeared on Lebanese postage stamps and on special lunch boxes in Japanese restaurants.
Many books have been written about Carlos Ghosn. He also wrote a popular business book called Shift: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival. There are also documentaries about him, like Fugitive: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn (2022) and Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn (2023).
Awards and Recognition
Carlos Ghosn has received many awards for his achievements:
- In 2001, TIME magazine listed him as one of the top Global Influentials.
- In 2002, the French government made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (Knight of the Legion of Honour).
- In 2003, Fortune magazine named him Asia Businessman of the Year.
- In 2004, he received the prestigious Blue Ribbon Medal from Emperor Akihito of Japan.
- He was added to the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame in the same year.
- In 2006, he was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
- In 2012, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Strategic Management Society.
- In 2017, Lebanon's post office released a special stamp honoring Carlos Ghosn.
Images for kids
-
Carlos Ghosn at 2014 Paris Motor Show
See also
In Spanish: Carlos Ghosn para niños
