Nissan could have paid Stanford tuition for Carlos Ghosn's children

More discussions on the finances of former Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, Uber expands its presence in the Middle East, lawsuits against Elon Musk and Tesla on model 3, minivans sitting on the dealer's lots and Boeing 737 Max 8 news. All this and more in The Morning Shift of Tuesday, March 26, 2019.

1st gear: Kids Got Free College by Carlos Ghosn, maybe

In a saga that is likely to become as long as Dieselgate, the new reports on the finances of Carlos Ghosn while he held important positions at Nissan and Renault that Nissan has just paid about $ 600,000 for the tuition of its children at Stanford University.

Ghosn, arrested for charges of financial misconduct of Nissan at the end of last year, got out of jail with a $ 9 million bail earlier this month. Word of the month of his initial arrest was that he would have underreported nearly 90 million dollars in compensation.

The four children of Ghosn are Stanford graduates, according to a report published in 2018 by the Financial Times: and Bloomberg now reports that people familiar with the subject said they might have been there for a Nissan tuition-free trip. Tuition payments would have been made between 2004 and 2015, according to the report, and would have earned at least $ 601,000 based on fee schedules.

Bloomberg reports that this only concerns tuition fees and that it should not be confused with recent university admission scandals. Bloomberg is satisfied that "such payments are not alleged in the case of Ghosn". Bloomberg, however, wrote that tuition fees "are not common among senior executives."

From the story:

[I]According to Robin Ferracone, managing director of Farient Advisors, an executive compensation consulting firm based in New York and Los Angeles, it is "very unusual" for Nissan to pay the university fees of its children.

"Generally, tuition reimbursements are only collected in the context of expatriate assignments, and these are intended for children under the university age," said Ferracone.

If the sources are correct, these payments were also known by Ghosn's employer as part of his compensation, unlike some of the other alleged financial problems in which he would have been. One of the people who spoke to Bloomberg, who asked not to be named, the information not being public, claimed that tuition fees were part of Ghosn's contract since 1999. While Bloomberg has not cited any tangible evidence, the report says that Nissan and Ghosn's lawyer in Paris refused to comment. A Stanford spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg wrote.

There is more about the whole story here.

2nd gear: Uber buys Careem Giant Careem Giant from the Middle East for $ 3.1 billion

Uber expands its presence in the Middle East and does so significantly: On Tuesday, the company announced that it was buying the Middle East giant, Careem. $ 3.1 billion – including $ 1.7 billion in convertible notes, and the other $ 1.4 billion in cash. Careem stands as the # 1 most popular application in the Middle East and North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey.

The purchase will make Careem a 100% Uber subsidiary and let the company retain its brand and leadership, and CNN reports that it will have more than a few benefits for Uber as a company:

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of CNN Business, said in an email to Uber staff that maintaining the Careem brand and its operations "has the benefit of allowing us to build new products and services. to test new ideas through not one but two strong brands "

Uber is preparing for a first public offering expected later this year. He would have been asked for a valuation up to $ 120 billion. The combination with Careem will give Uber a dominant position in the Middle East region and could help the US company reduce its losses. […]

Careem used the field advantage and local knowledge to make life difficult for Uber since the entry of the US company into the Middle East market in 2013.

The main investors of Careem are Rakuten (RKUNF), Didi Chuxing, Daimler (DDAIF) and the Saudi government, which has also poured billions of dollars into Uber.

The acquisition, announced Uber in its announcement, is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

3rd speed: the judge rejects the lawsuit against Tesla and Elon Musk for the production of the model 3

For the second time, Reuters reports that a federal judge in San Francisco fired a lawsuit for securities fraud by Tesla's shareholders, who alleged that Tesla made misleading statements about the status of production the more budget-based model 3.

US District Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the trial as of October 2017, and this is the second time Reuters reports that Breyer rejected the original in August, but allowed the applicants to file an amended version. It did not help much in their case.

From the story:

The lawsuit sought class action status for shareholders who purchased Tesla shares between May 3, 2016 and November 1, 2017.

Shareholders bought shares "artificially inflated" because Musk and other leaders misled them with bullish statements about the Model 3 production ramp, not revealing that the company was " unfortunately not prepared "for the production of the vehicle.

Tesla argued, in its defense, that it had been open about the problems associated with the production of Model 3, including Musk's repeated statements that Tesla was experiencing "a hell of production."

Reuters reports that Breyer, rejecting the lawsuit, said his fraud charges ignored Tesla's "repeated warnings about the risks of producing Model 3".

4th gear: Fiat Chrysler shortens working hours at Canadian mining utility plant to account for vans sitting on land

Fiat Chrysler minivans are not selling as fast as they did last year, which usually has two short-term consequences: plant closures and shortened work periods. Automotive News reports FCA's Canadian plants are about to face the latter to adjust dealer inventories.

FCA Canada would not provide details on shift adjustments, reported Automotive News, but said the plant is expected to be back in service normally in April. From the story:

"We do not provide details other than those indicated in the statement," said Mr. Gosselin to the question of whether the chain had been slowed down to limit production or whether the time actually spent by an employee in the company was limited. factory had been shortened.

The Windsor factory who builds the Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Pacifica and the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid has approximately 6,000 employees and builds nearly 1,500 vans a day at full capacity, according to Automotive News, and the FCA has already temporarily temporarily unused it three times this year.

And, while last year's Pacifica sales in the US had hardly changed from the previous year to almost 120,000, things are not tied this year.

From Automotive News:

Pacifica had 88 days of supply in the United States as of March 1, 2019, according to Detroit's Automotive News data center. The Great Caravan had 20 days of supply. Similar data are not made public in Canada.

In the United States, Pacifica sales declined 24% to 14,817 units in February, while Grand Caravan sales decreased 27% to 19,634 units.

Pacifica sales in Canada decreased 54% to 512 units in the first two months of 2019. Grand Caravan sales decreased 20% to 4,836 units.

This summer, According to Automotive News, a senior union official FCA should start adapting the Windsor plant towards the addition of an AWD powertrain at the Pacifica.

5th speed: China will not accept the Boeing 737 Max 8 airworthiness applications until its aircraft is "determined"

China was one of the first to immobilize the Boeing 737 Max 8 after an Ethiopian Airlines flight became the second model of the plane to crash into the plane. Within a few months. killing the 157 people on board, and Reuters reports that the country currently does not accept airworthiness certification applications from the aircraft.

The country's civil aviation regulatory agency will no longer begin examining applications, according to Reuters, until it is "determined that the aircraft is airworthy."

The information concerning the requests came from a person in charge of the press service of the Chinese Civil Aviation Regulator, According to Reuters, the regulator has not accepted the application for airworthiness certification of the 737 Max 8 since March 21. Reuters also wrote that the regulator had sent staff to investigate and review the design changes made to the plan, citing other reports.

From the story:

Earlier Tuesday, Caijing Financial magazine announced that CAAC had suspended Boeing 737 MAX 8 certification, citing an internal document released March 21.

"As the aircraft is faced with airworthiness uncertainties, after study, it is decided that (the regulatory authority) will cease issuing the Boeing 737 Max 8 airworthiness certification immediately," said CAAC quoted by Caijing, adding that the ongoing investigation has not yet been completed. about the possibility of an aircraft design problem.

Boeing did not respond to a request for comment, history said, but Reuters quoted Caijing in writing as industry insiders said that it took a year and three months to the company obtain CAAC airworthiness certification for the 737 Max 8 initially. He obtained certification in October 2017, the report says.

Reverse: Ford sells Jaguar Land Rover to Tata

Tata Motors bought the Jaguar Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company on March 26, 2008, according to a report published by the New York Times at the time. The agreement was 2.3 billion dollars.

Neutral: what would you do with a free education worth four degrees?

Buy a lot of things, probably.