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Nissan discussed the candidate for chief executive Hirohito Nishikawa at today's meeting, according to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. Nishikawa has been under great pressure since he admitted receiving improper pay last week.

An internal investigation by Nissan has found that Nissan CEO Hiroshi Nishikawa and other executives are suspected of receiving improper compensation. Hiroshi Nishikawa also admitted his violations and said he would return part of the amount.

According to the investigation, after Nissan Chairman Ghosn was arrested by Tokyo prosecutors on suspicion of underreporting his personal remuneration in November last year, Nissan got into trouble, its performance continued to decline and its executives continued to lose.

Based on the close relationship between Mr Ghosn and Mr Nishikawa, the focus of the internal investigation gradually expanded to Hiroshi Nishikawa, chief executive, after former chairman Ghosn was arrested on suspicion of misconduct.

At the same time, Nishikawa Hiroshi's leadership has been questioned, and Nissan's management committee does not intend to let Nishikawa Hiroshi leave, but at the shareholders' meeting in recent years, Nishikawa Hiroshi said that he is responsible for the turmoil caused by Ghosn's arrest, and hopes that the company can find a CEO candidate as soon as possible, and will continue to serve as CEO to help Nissan out of trouble.

It is understood that Nissan drew up a list of more than 10 CEO candidates as early as June. People familiar with the matter said that Nishikawa Hiroshi had planned to leave, but did not know when.

According to Renault-Nissan alliance insiders, candidates include Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance senior vice president Guan run, chief competition officer Yamauchi Yamauchi and Nissan executive committee member Makoto Nissan.

It is worth noting that two of the above candidates have a Chinese background. Guan run said he served as chairman of Nissan's China Management Committee and president of Dongfeng Motor.

However, because Nissan's nominating committee considers Japanese and non-Japanese candidates, it will take a long time to find and review CEO candidates.

Nishikawa's departure means Nissan will be in trouble, as the company struggles to recover profits, revive performance and repair relations with Renault. Nissan is cutting 12500 jobs and trying to reform corporate governance.

According to the data released, Nissan's revenue for the 2018 fiscal year ended March 31, 2019 was 11.57 trillion yen, down 3.2% from a year earlier; operating profit was 318.2 billion yen, down 44.6% from a year earlier, the lowest in a decade; net profit reached 319.1 billion yen, down 57.3% from a year earlier; and operating profit was 2.7%, down 2.1 percentage points from 4.8% in fiscal year 2017.

In the first quarter of this year, Nissan made an operating profit of 1.6 billion yen ($14.8 million), while revenue fell 13 per cent year-on-year to 2.37 trillion yen ($21.97 billion), with an operating margin of 0.1 per cent, while net income plunged 94.5 per cent to 6.4 billion yen ($59.3 million).

Nissan forecasts that in the 2019 fiscal year ending March 2020, Nissan expects operating profit to fall another 28% from fiscal year 2018 to 230 billion yen ($2.1 billion), about half the estimated average of 453 billion yen, while net profit nearly halved to 170 billion yen ($1.53 billion). Operating margins will fall to 2.0 per cent from 2.7 per cent in fiscal 2018.

In addition, Nissan plans to achieve an operating margin of 6 per cent by 2022 instead of the 8 per cent target set earlier, with a revenue target of 14.5 trillion yen ($130.84 billion), down from its previous target of 16.5 trillion yen ($148.89 billion).

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