Eccentric Billionaire Calls Nidec Succession His Biggest Failure
Jun Seki’s experience with the founder of the world’s biggest electric-motor maker highlights a widespread issue in Japan and a risk for investors
Shigenobu Nagamori, chairman and chief executive officer of Nidec Corp.
Photographer: Akio Kon/BloombergShigenobu Nagamori, a work-obsessed Japanese billionaire who jokes that he plans to live to 120, had already sidelined three successors when he wooed Jun Seki to join his $37 billion company.
It was November 2019. Nagamori, then 75, invited the younger man to dinner at Ryokuyouso, an exclusive kaiseki restaurant that he owns in the western city of Kyoto. There, he made his offer: Seki would join Nidec Corp. and become chief operating officer of the world’s biggest manufacturer of electric motors. He would build up its business supplying motors for electric cars, and if that went well, the chief executive officer role would be his.