Nissan Motor Co. Chief Financial Officer Stephen Ma is set to step down from his position, people with knowledge of the matter said, marking yet another executive change at a challenging time for the Japanese carmaker.

Nissan's stock rises as CFO Stephen Ma steps down, with CEO Makoto Uchida continuing to face challenges steering the company forward.

Financial Officer Stephen Ma is set to resign, Bloomberg reported Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.  According to the report, it wasn’t clear if May would be demoted or leave the auto maker.

The stock gained as much as 1% in early morning trading, though the shares are still down almost 35% this year.

Nissan Motor's CFO Stephen Ma is set to step down, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter, weeks after the Japanese automaker issued a profit warning and announced plans to cut thousands of jobs globally.

Citing a singificant reduction in income and profitability, the manufacturer said it will cut production capacity by 20 per cent and reduce its global workforce by 9000 employees. A statement released by the company said that “facing a severe situation,

Ma joined Nissan in 1996 in North America and worked in financial roles in China and Japan before being promoted to CFO in December of 2019