the author is a reuters breakingviews columnist the opinions expressed are his ownby quentin webbhong kong feb 23 reuters breakingviews stepping back from the daytoday at nissan motor is a good start for carlos ghosn the workaholic had been combining four chairmanships and three chief executive roles far too much for even the most indefatigable boss now ghosn will cede nissans ceo role to company veteran hiroto saikawa who has been warming up as coceo since october that is laudable losing a few more titles would be even betterghosn has been juggling plates for years the turnaround specialist became ceo of japans nissan in 2001 and french sister company renault four years later he now serves as both chairman and ceo of renault nissan and their partnership the renaultnissan alliance the addition of mitsubishi motors last year stretched him even more thinly nissan bailed out its ailing peer after a fueleconomytesting scandal taking a 34 percent stake and making ghosn chairmanto be fair there was more logic to this than trying to run unrelated companies like jack dorsey is doing at twitter and square the carmakers are bound by shareholdings and close collaboration the francojapanese alliance ground out 43 billion euros of synergies in 2015and ghosn has done a creditable job in a difficult industry total returns to shareholders since june 2001 at nissan are 102 percent datastream shows slightly trailing toyotas 113 percent return but comfortably ahead of both honda and the wider topix index so this looked like an example of corporate governance that is questionable in principle but somehow works in practicenonetheless companies usually benefit from a singlejob ceo focusing on delivering the groups objectives who works alongside a separate chairman who can look further ahead this is especially useful in the automotive industry a complex sector buffeted by everything from technological upheaval to protectionist threatsnor was it ever obvious how the setup would be sustainable after ghosn left finally an answer is starting to emerge in time he could also hand over the ceo job at renault further out he could perhaps even dispense with the chairmanships at some or all of the three carmakers to focus on the alliance that would be a wise executive decisionon twitter news nissan motor said carlos ghosn would step down as chief executive on april 1 relinquishing a role he has held since 2001 he will be replaced by hiroto saikawa who has served as coceo since october last year in a statement on feb 23 nissan said ghosn would remain chairman of the board he is also chair and chief executive of sister company renault and of the renaultnissan alliance the groups strategic partnership in october nissan completed the acquisition of a 34 percent stake in mitsubishi motors bringing a third carmaker into the alliance and said ghosn would assume the chairmans role in that company too nissan shares stood 06 percent lower at 1112 yen a share by late morning in tokyo for previous