Carlos Ghosn Bichara (; ; ; , born 9 March 1954) is a Lebanese, Brazilian and French businessman and former automotive executive. Ghosn was the CEO of Michelin North America, chairman and CEO of Renault, chairman of AvtoVAZ, chairman and CEO of Nissan, and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors. Ghosn was also the chairman and CEO of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, a strategic partnership among those automotive manufacturers through a complex cross-shareholding agreement. The venture has held approximately 10% of the total market share since 2010, and as of 2017, was understood to be the largest automobile group worldwide. In 1996, Renault's CEO Louis Schweitzer hired Ghosn as his deputy and charged him with the task of turning the company around from near-bankruptcy. Ghosn developed a plan to cut costs for the period 1998–2000, reducing the workforce, revising production processes, standardising vehicle parts and pushing the launch of new models. The company also undertook major organisational changes, introducing a lean production system with delegate responsibilities inspired by Japanese systems (the "Renault Production Way"), reforming work methods and centralising research and development at its Technocentre to reduce vehicle conception costs while accelerating such conception. Ghosn became known as "Le Cost Killer". In the early 2000s he earned the nickname "Mr. Fix It", for orchestrating one of the auto industry's most aggressive downsizing campaigns and spearheading the turnaround of Nissan from its near-bankruptcy in 1999. Following the Nissan financial turnaround, in 2002 Fortune awarded him Asia Businessman of the Year. In 2003 Fortune identified him as one of the 10 most powerful people in business outside the U.S., and its Asian edition voted him Man of the Year. Surveys jointly published by the Financial Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers named him the fourth most respected business leader in 2003, and the third most respected business leader in 2004 and in 2005. He quickly achieved celebrity status in Japan and in the business world, and his life has been chronicled in Japanese comics. Ghosn stepped down as CEO of Nissan on 1 April 2017, while remaining Chairman of the company. He was arrested at Tokyo International Airport on 19 November 2018, on allegations of under-reporting his salary and gross misuse of company assets. On 22 November 2018, Nissan's board made a unanimous decision to dismiss Ghosn as Nissan's Chairman, effective immediately. Mitsubishi Motors' executive board took similar action on 26 November 2018. Renault and the French government