Nissan Group

Nissan Group (日産コンツェルン, Nissan Kontserun, "Nissan Concern"), or formerly Nissan zaibatsu, was one of Japan's most powerful business groupings. Founded in 1928 by Yoshisuke Aikawa, the group was originally a holding company created as an offshoot of Kuhara Mining Co.(became Nippon Mining & Metals Company; currently part of JXTG Holdings), which Aikawa had taken over as president of from his brother-in-law, Fusanosuke Kuhara. After the bankruptcy of the Kuhara zaibatsu following World War I, Aikawa reorganized its assets into Japan Industries or Nihon Sangyo Corporation (日本産業株式会社, Nihon Sangyō kabushiki gaisha), Nissan for short.

The group's core business was real estate and insurance with hundreds of member companies, including fisheries, mining companies, and is affiliated with Hitachi Group companies, as well as what Nissan is now known for—its automobile industry. After World War II, the zaibatsu was disbanded, and reformed into Nichiyo-kai, otherwise known as Nissan Group.

Although the Nissan name was primarily known for its car manufacturing outside Japan, Nissan Motors was a comparatively small side business compared to its core real estate business until the real estate crash of the early 1990s (see Japanese asset price bubble). Like the similar subprime crisis, the crash dealt a devastating blow to the Nissan Group by leaving it with several hundred billions of dollars of debt.

The Nissan Group has long since shed the majority of its real estate assets (which were sold to Mitsui & Co. and still operates as the Bussan Real Estate Company), and has focused on manufacturing and insurance. Nissan Motors was given more independence as French automotive manufacturer Renault bought a 38.8% stake in the company for $5.4 billion in 1999 and appointed Carlos Ghosn as CEO of the new Renault–Nissan Alliance. Nissan Motors' successful turnaround was attributed to CEO Ghosn's ability to detach it from its keiretsu connections and eliminate 23,000 jobs from the Japanese workforce.