Nissan Board Suspends Plan to Pick to New Chairman

Nissan Motor Co.’s board has halted plans to quickly choose a new chairman to replace Carlos Ghosn, deciding instead to distribute his duties among several senior executives.

A panel of outside board directors has been unable to nominate a successor from Nissan’s existing 19-member board. The committee now will have until next March to submit its recommendation, according to the board, which met earlier today.

The 64-year-old Ghosn was arrested in Japan on Nov. 19 and removed as chairman of Nissan and its Mitsubishi Motors Co. affiliate days later. Ghosn, along with Nissan itself, was charged on Dec. 10 with failing to report $43 million in compensation.

Ghosn remains chairman and CEO of Renault SA, which owns 43% of Nissan, although his duties have been reassigned to other executives. Ghosn also remains the official chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.

Meanwhile, Renault has urged Nissan to hold a shareholders meeting as soon as possible to discuss the crisis.