Tokyo: Nissan Motor is considering reducing its stake in the Yokohama F. Marinos football team amid pressure to cut costs to combat the current economic crisis, news reports said Wednesday.

Nissan, which currently owns 93 percent of the firm that manages the J-League outfit, may give up its management rights by reducing its stake to lower than 33 percent, according to the "Kanaloko" online news site.

The news portal is run by the Kanagawa Shimbun newspaper, based in the city of Yokohama, south of Tokyo.

Nissan hopes to cut the cost of sponsoring the loss-making football club by selling its shareholdings or by having the football club issue new shares for other investors, Kyodo News said, citing an unnamed Nissan executive.

Japan's third biggest automaker has already decided to cut jobs and to reduce production as the economic crisis has depressed global consumption and hard hit the auto industry worldwide.

Other Japanese automakers and major manufacturers have already announced decisions to terminate their motor racing activities and sponsorship for sports teams.

Honda Motor withdrew from Formula One as the firm downgraded its profit forecast, cut jobs and lowered production.

Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru cars, and rival Suzuki Motor also pulled out of the world rally championship.


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