Mitsuya Kishida
Introduction
Mitsuya Kishida is the former president and chief executive officer of Nidec Corporation, one of the world’s largest makers of precision motors and a supplier to global automakers, who resigned on September 29, 2026, after a company review found he had made statements and engaged in conduct related to financial reporting that the board could not regard as appropriate. Kishida’s exit came as the Japanese industrial giant reeled through an accounting scandal that has already cost its founder his post, triggered delisting warnings, and forced corrections to years of financial results.
Background Information
Kishida, 66, led Nidec through the period in which the company’s accounting and quality problems metastasized. A third-party committee was established in 2025 to investigate suspected irregularities, and the accounting scandal was revealed in June 2025. The fallout accumulated over the following year: a delisting warning and benchmark-index expulsion in October 2025, a report blaming the founder in March 2026, more than 1,000 cases of manufacturing misconduct identified by May 2026, and the disclosure of 844 cases of quality-control misconduct in September 2026 — all part of the succession of disclosures with which the company informed investors as it prepared corrections to prior-year results. In March 2026 the company said the scandal threatened a loss of some 250 billion yen and publicly blamed its founder. Kishida’s own departure was announced alongside the news that the company would finally release its long-delayed results for the fiscal year that ended March 31.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
The direct trigger for Kishida’s resignation was the company’s own review of its officers’ conduct during the preparation of its corrected financial results. Nidec’s statement, issued with the resignation announcement, said it was confirmed that Kishida “had, on certain occasions, made statements or engaged in conduct in relation to financial reporting that could not necessarily be regarded as appropriate” during the process of preparing the results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, and correcting the financial results for prior fiscal years. The company’s board said that while Kishida had “devoted himself sincerely” to restoring the business since the third-party committee’s establishment, the new governance structure demanded a higher standard of ethical conduct; after board discussions, Kishida expressed his intention to resign and the board accepted it. He stepped down the same day — September 29, 2026 — with Chief Technology Officer Michio Kaida appointed president and chief executive in his place. Nidec simultaneously said it would release its long-delayed results and was expected to recognize an impairment loss exceeding 600 billion yen — about $3.8 billion — tied mainly to traction motor systems for electric vehicles.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The resignation landed two days after Nikkei reported that Nidec was expected to recognize an impairment loss exceeding 600 billion yen — about $3.8 billion — stemming mainly from traction motor systems for electric vehicles, with total write-downs tied to the scandal potentially reaching about 1 trillion yen, figures the company declined to confirm ahead of its earnings announcement. Coverage framed the exit as the accounting scandal reaching the very top of the executive suite: the chief executive who had been installed to steady the company after its founder’s departure was gone within the year, on the same day the board installed Chief Technology Officer Michio Kaida as president and chief executive. Business media noted the sequence — founder out, then the reform chief executive out — as evidence of how deep the reporting problems ran at the Kyoto-based manufacturer. Kishida did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn in the days after his departure.
Current Status
Kishida is out of Nidec’s top office as of September 29, 2026, replaced by Kaida on an interim-to-permanent basis while the company works through its delayed earnings, its impairment charges and the correction of prior-year financial statements. The fetched record shows no criminal charge or regulatory enforcement action against Kishida personally to date; the documented consequence is the forced resignation itself and the board’s published finding about his conduct. Nidec remains under the governance structure it built in response to the scandal, with its financial restatements and revitalization plan still in progress.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Kishida’s resignation ends a four-decade Nidec career with the company’s own board concluding his financial-reporting conduct fell short — a finding that will follow him through any future role in Japanese corporate life, where such statements are rarely forgotten. He leaves as the second chief executive removed by the scandal, after founder Shigenobu Nagamori, whose departure the accounting mess also forced. The scale of the write-downs attributed to the era he oversaw — potentially 1 trillion yen — and the falsified testing results the investigations documented make his tenure the reference point for one of the largest governance failures in modern Japanese manufacturing.