Boundless

By Nick Kostov

About the book

Carlos Ghosn rose to prominence at Michelin, Renault, and—most notably—in Japan at Nissan, where he earned the moniker of Mr. 7-Eleven, both for the hours he kept as well as a reference to the country’s ubiquitous convenience stores.For a time, Ghosn thrived in Japan. His employees believed he was one of the greatest business minds of the generation, and the press hailed him as a financial genius. After beginning to jointly run Nissan and Renault, Ghosn increasingly began to buy into his own hype. He believed he was underpaid and therefore undervalued for the visionary changes he had brought to both companies. At the same time, details of his lavish lifestyle began to emerge, painting the unsavory portrait of a man living a billionaire lifestyle on the company’s dime. Japanese prosecutors began to build a case against Ghosn for a bevy of alleged crimes, including the creation of shell companies to funnel money to himself, hiding tens of millions of dollars in compensation, and creating a windfall for himself upon orchestrating the sale of Nissan itself.In November 2018, Ghosn was arrested and subsequently sent to jail, though he quickly posted bail. All the meanwhile, he insisted that all of his financial transactions with Nissan were above board, and that his reputation was being inaccurately tarnished. All the while, he was planning his escape, and after a year under house arrest, he was smuggled out of Tokyo. Currently a fugitive in Beirut—his ancestral homeland—Ghosn continues to assert that he fled to escape Japan’s “rigged” justice system.In this sensational globetrotting tale, Kostov and McLain take readers through Ghosn’s life and actions, from Brazil to Japan to Lebanon and all the stops in between. This is the story of a man who had watched for decades as contemporaries with far less talent amassed far greater wealth, and who took measures to ensure he would finally be paid what he thought he was worth. Yet in doing so, he created a contentious relationship with the Japanese business culture and society that had fawned over him for years.In this sensational globetrotting tale, Kostov and McLain take readers through Ghosn’s life and actions, from Brazil to Japan to Lebanon and all the stops in between. This is the story of a man who had watched for decades as contemporaries with far less talent amassed far greater wealth, and who took measures to ensure he would finally be paid what he thought he was worth. Yet in doing so, he created a contentious relationship with the Japanese business culture and society that had fawned over him for years.