Japanese motor giant Nidec Corp.'s President Jun Seki stepped down Friday to take responsibility for poor earnings, the company said, less than three years after it recruited him from Nissan Motor Co.

The former Nissan executive will be succeeded by Hiroshi Kobe, 73, vice chairman of Nidec, who is one of the manufacturer's founding members, it said.

Seki joins the list of other former Nidec executives who were scouted from outside but eventually left the electric motor maker founded by 78-year-old Chairman Shigenobu Nagamori.

Former Sharp Corp. President Mikio Katayama joined Nidec in 2014 as vice chairman before stepping down last year. Hiroyuki Yoshimoto, another former Nissan executive, took up the president position in 2018 but left the company after being demoted in 2020.

"I had an illusion that I have to find my successor from outside," Nagamori told a press conference. He said he plans to choose his successor from within the Kyoto-headquartered company in a major reversal from the existing succession policy.

Nidec plans to appoint five vice presidents in April 2023 and will promote one of them to president in April 2024, he said.

"I will just believe in what Chairman Nagamori does," said Kobe, who will become president on Saturday, adding that he considers himself more suited for a supporting role than a top leader.

Seki, 61, who was a top executive at Nissan, joined Nidec in January 2020 and has been president since taking up the post in April of the same year.

He subsequently took over the position of chief executive officer from Nagamori in June 2021. But Nagamori returned to the post in April 2022 as Seki failed to win the trust of the demanding founder.

For the three months ended June, Nidec posted an operating loss in the automotive product business, a segment it sees as a promising growth area and has focused its resources on. But as a company, sales and net profits hit record highs in the period.

Seki's departure underscores the difficulty of ensuring a smooth transition of power at Japanese companies long helmed by powerful founders.

SoftBank Group Corp. on Wednesday announced the resignation of Executive Vice President Rajeev Misra, who was once seen as a successor to founder Masayoshi Son. Misra, who came from a U.S. investment company, continues to lead one of its Vision Fund businesses.

Uniqlo clothing store operator Fast Retailing Co.'s founder Tadashi Yanai appointed Genichi Tamatsuka, from IBM Japan, as its president in 2002 before taking the position back in 2005.

Nidec was founded in 1973 in Kyoto by Nagamori. The company, which originally produced motors for hard disc drives, has been ramping up its efforts in the area of automotive motors in recent years as demand for electric vehicles rises.

==Kyodo

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