Terry Gou's Tenacity Clinched Foxconn Deal to Take Over Sharp

  • Taiwanese billionaire pulls off breakthrough takeover in Japan
  • Agreement caps four years of talks between iPhone suppliers

What Foxconn-Sharp Deal Means for Corporate Japan

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To understand how Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group outmaneuvered a Japanese government-backed bidder and acquired Sharp Corp. for 389 billion yen ($3.5 billion), it pays to know two things about founder Terry Gou. He’s relentless, totally relentless.

Gou (pronounced Gwo), whose Taipei-based manufacturing empire makes iPhones for Apple Inc. and the PlayStation 4 for Sony Corp., has been in hot pursuit of Japan’s largest maker of liquid-crystal displays for more than four years. He overcame stiff cultural resistance; politically connected Innovation Network Corp. of Japan; and deadline disclosures that prompted him to call a last-minute timeout.