Nissan is considering a change in leadership following the failure of a proposed merger with Honda and the release of poor earnings results, according to Bloomberg.

The possibility of a shake-up at the top comes amid unconfirmed reports that a wide range of deep-pocketed investors might be considering an investment in Japan's No. 3 automaker, and that some are looking for significant management changes before stepping in.

In a story published Thursday morning, Bloomberg citing unnamed sources said that Nissan may replace its CEO, Makoto Uchida, and is contemplating a revamp of its executive team. Nissan declined to comment.

Uchida, 58, became Nissan CEO in 2019 and has led efforts to turn around the Yokohama-based automaker, but the initiatives have so far failed.

The company is expected to post an ¥80 billion ($536 million) loss for the fiscal year ending March. In the first half of this fiscal year, Nissan’s net profit fell about 90% mainly due to sluggish sales in North America and China.

Nissan shares rose as much as 5% on Thursday after the Bloomberg report.

Uchida recently sought a merger with Honda so that the two could combine forces in order to take a lead in the development of new products, especially connected automobiles, autonomous cars and electric vehicles.

The automakers gave up on the merger, which would have created the world’s No. 3 vehicle manufacturing group, earlier this month just weeks after talks formally started. Negotiations hit a snag after Honda proposed to make Nissan a wholly owned subsidiary and Nissan rejected the proposal.

The original plan was to establish a holding company that would fully own both Honda and Nissan. Honda was expected to pick a leader and a majority of the board members for the holding company.

“Under the current situation, it is difficult to keep up with competition just by Nissan itself, so we had a serious discussion about the proposal by Honda," Uchida said in a news conference on Feb 13.

“We were unable to have confidence in how much Nissan’s independence will be ensured and whether our potential will be fully brought out if Nissan becomes Honda’s wholly owned subsidiary."

Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said during talks that Honda should have more control over the post-merger entity so speedy decisions could be made under a "one-governance" structure.

Nissan and Honda still intend to work together in areas including software and EV-related technologies.

Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan has an equity stake, was also involved in the merger talks but pulled out as well.

The Financial Times has reported that Honda would be open to resume the merger negotiations if Uchida steps down from the top post, but he has indicated that he intends to stay in the post until the turnaround plan is well underway.

The FT said last week that a Japanese group, which includes former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and former Tesla director Hiromichi Mizuno, is coming up with plans involving a Tesla investment in Nissan.

“I have absolutely no involvement in what is reported in this article and am unaware of any such moves by the Japanese government,” Mizuno posted on social media platform X.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called the report “fake news.”

In an article published Wednesday by Shukan Bunshun, Suga said the FT report is untrue. He said he has sent it a letter of complaint.

Media reports also indicate that Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry has expressed interest in making an investment in Nissan, as the company that manufactures iPhones — better known by its Foxconn trade name — is entering the EV market.

If Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi had gone through with the merger, it would have left Japan with just two auto-manufacturing groups.

Toyota — the world's largest automaker — counts Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors as subsidiaries and also has capital ties with Isuzu Motors, Suzuki Motor, Mazda and Subaru.