Terry Gou

Terry Gou (Chinese: 郭台銘; pinyin: Guō Táimíng; born 18 October 1950) is a Taiwanese billionaire businessman and politician. Gou is the founder and former chairman and chief executive officer of Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics.[1] Founded in 1974, Foxconn grew to become an international business empire, becoming the largest private employer and exporter in mainland China with a workforce of 1.2 million.[2] As of 2022, Gou had a net worth of US$6.8 billion.[3]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Gou (郭).
Terry Gou
郭台銘
Gou in 2019
Born (1950-10-18) 18 October 1950
Banqiao, Taipei County, Taiwan
Alma materChina Maritime College
Years active1974–present
Known forFounder of Foxconn
Political partyKuomintang (1970–2000; 2019; 2023–present)
Independent (2000–2019; 2019–2023)
Spouse(s)
Serena Lin
​
​
(m. 1974; died 2005)​

Delia Tseng
​
(m. 2008)​
Children5

Beginning in 2016, speculation surrounding Gou's political ambitions arose ahead of the 2020 presidential election.[4][5][6][7] In 2019, Gou resigned from Foxconn and joined the Kuomintang (KMT) to run for president, declaring he was instructed by the sea goddess Mazu in a dream to contest the election.[8] Gou ultimately lost the election, coming in second in the Kuomintang primary.[9] After leaving the party following the 2019 primary, Gou rejoined in 2023 and announced his intention to run for president in the 2024 presidential election.[10]

Once described as an "old friend" by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Gou has been characterized as friendly to Mainland business interests during his political and business career.[11][12] In December 2022, Gou was credited with helping to successfully lobby the Xi Jinping Administration to ease Zero-COVID rules implemented during the pandemic.[13] On foreign policy, Guo has criticized the Taiwan independence movement and has called for a deescalation of Sino–American tensions.[14] Owing to his business background and image as a political outsider, Gou has been compared in international media to former U.S. President Donald Trump.[15][16][17]

Early life

Gou was born in Banqiao Township, Taipei County (now Banqiao District, New Taipei). His parents lived in mainland China's Shanxi Province before the Chinese Civil War and fled to Taiwan in 1949.[18] His father was a policeman who fought on behalf of the Kuomintang during the war.[17]

As the second child of his family, Gou received education from elementary school to post college. After graduation, he continued to work in a rubber factory, working at a grinding wheel, and medicine plant until the age of 24. Gou has an older sister and two younger brothers, Gou Tai-chiang and Tony Gou, who have both become successful businesspeople as well.

Foxconn
United States House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, United States President Donald Trump, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Foxconn founder and CEO Terry Gou and Christopher Murdock at Foxconn's June 2018 groundbreaking ceremony in Wisconsin.
Main article: Foxconn

Terry Gou founded Foxconn, established as Hon Hai Precision Industry (鴻海科技集團) in Taiwan in 1974[19] with $7,500 ($44,000 in 2021 US dollars) in startup money and a workforce of ten elderly employees. The company started off making plastic parts for television sets in a rented shed in Tucheng, a suburb of Taipei.[20] A turning point came in 1980 when he received an order from Atari to make the console joystick.[20]

He further expanded his business in the 1980s by embarking on an 11-month trip across the US in search of customers. As an aggressive salesman, Gou arrived uninvited into many companies headquarters and was able to get additional orders, despite having security called on him multiple times.[20]

In 1988 he opened his first factory in mainland China, in Shenzhen, where his largest factory remains today. Operations in China significantly increased in scale when Gou vertically integrated the assembly process and facilities for workers. The manufacturing site became a campus that included housing, dining, medical care and burial for the workers, and even chicken farming to supply the cafeteria.[20]

In 1996, Hon Hai started building chassis for Compaq desktops. This was a breakthrough moment that led to building the bare bones chassis for other high-profile customers, including HP, IBM, and Apple. Within just a few years, Foxconn grew into a consumer electronics giant.[20]

Gou with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in 2011

Other business ventures

In 2019, Gou argued that Apple should move its manufacturing out of China to Taiwan. The comments came after he confirmed he will step down from his role as Foxconn chairman.[21][22]

Gou is also the main owner of HMD Global, which is a company founded in 2016 to sell Nokia branded phones. HMD buys the R&D, manufacturing and distribution from FIH Ltd, which is part of Hon Hai group.

In April 2021, Gou became the biggest shareholder in the biotech company Eirgenix.[23] In December 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that a letter from Gou helped convince the Chinese government to ease Zero-COVID restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]

Political career

Gou first joined the Kuomintang in 1970, but allowed his membership to lapse after 2000.[24] In the 2012 Taiwan presidential election, Gou endorsed Ma Ying-jeou,[25][26] stating that Ma was an "experienced, outstanding helmsman."[27] After Donald Trump won the 2016 United States presidential election, Gou was the subject of a spoof open letter in Bloomberg, in which author Tim Culpan was severely critical of Trump.[28] The article was mistakenly reported as having been written by Gou himself.[29]

2020 presidential election

From 2016, it was widely reported that Gou was considering a 2020 Taiwanese presidential bid,[4][5] and speculation continued into 2017.[6][7] He rejoined the Kuomintang in April 2019.[30] On 17 April 2019, Gou announced his intention to run in the Kuomintang primary for the 2020 presidential election.[31][32]

Gou declared that he had been instructed by the sea goddess Mazu in a dream to run as a candidate in the 2020 presidential election of the Republic of China.[8] He finished second in the 2019 Kuomintang presidential primary, with 27.7% of the vote. On 12 September 2019, Gou announced his withdrawal from the Kuomintang.[9][33] Four days later, Gou stated that he would not participate in the 2020 presidential election as an independent candidate.[34][35] Gou was offered the top position on the Taiwan People's Party party list for the 2020 legislative election, but declined such a bid.[36]

2019 Kuomintang Republic of China presidential primary results
Candidates Place Result
Han Kuo-yu Nominated 44.81%
Terry Gou 2nd 27.73%
Eric Chu 3rd 17.90%
Chou Hsi-wei 4th 6.02%
Chang Ya-chung 5th 3.54%

2024 presidential election

In April 2023, Gou announced he would run for President in the 2024 election.[10] Polling conducted in January 2023 found him in second place in a hypothetical KMT primary with Hou Yu-ih, the Mayor of New Taipei, receiving 28.6% of the vote versus Hou's 36.7%.[37]

Political views

In 2019, Gou expressed misgivings about the legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan, arguing that the Legislative Yuan did not respect the results of the 2018 referendum where a majority voted against legalization.[38]

An opponent of the Taiwan independence movement, Gou claims the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) "exalts Taiwan independence and hates and opposes China".[14] Gou has been described as a friend of Donald Trump.[39] Gou's status as a billionaire businessman and relative political outsider, Gou was compared to Trump in international media during his 2019 presidential candidacy.[15][16][17]

His position is that that Taiwan independence is not an issue.[40]

He is also a supporter of the 1992 Consensus[41] and has criticized the Democratic Progressive Party for political wordplay in their interpretation of the consensus which he voiced on his Instagram account.[42]

Public image

During his decades in public life, Gou has established an image in the public eye as a 'fierce' personality unafraid to use brass language. According to the Financial Times (FT), Gou's personality has been credited as a driver of his professional success, with a Foxconn executive quoted as saying that Gou "is not afraid of showing bad taste or bad manners, or of making people uncomfortable."

In 2007, Gou cited Genghis Khan as a personal hero.[43][44] Gou reportedly wears a beaded bracelet procured at a temple dedicated to the Genghis Khan, which he wears on his right wrist.[45][43]

"Animal" management comment controversy

In 2012, a controversy arose after Gou compared Foxconn's workforce to animals during a board meeting.[46][47] The Xinhua News Agency reported that while speaking on the challenges of presiding over a workforce with over one million employees, Guo stated that as "human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache."[48]

Foxconn defended Gou's comments at the conference, stating that "Mr. Gou did say that, since all humans are members of the animal kingdom, it might be possible to learn from Mr. Chin’s experience as his team looks for lessons that can be applied to business." Moreover, Foxconn clarified that Gou's comments were not discriminatory, explaining that "Mr. Gou’s comments were directed at all humans and not at any specific group".[49]

Personal life

Gou and his first wife, Serena Lin (林淑如; Lín Shúrú; 1950–2005), have a son who works in the film and real estate industries and a daughter who worked in the financial sector.[50] Gou founded an educational charity with Lin in 2000 and intended to eventually give away one third of his wealth to charity.[2] After Gou's wife died, Gou's daughter assumed leadership in the charity.[50]

In the 1990s, Gou had an extramarital affair with Chen Chung-mei, a bar girl according to Gou, who had a private investigator videotape her and Gou having sex in order to blackmail Gou for money. While Gou first agreed to pay the money, when they next met he had police arrest Chen and the private investigator, Hsu Ching-wei, and sued them for extortion, stating he knew the affair would become "exposed one way or another".[51]

In 2002, he bought a Roztěž castle near Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic for $30 million.[52]

In 2005, Serena Lin died of breast cancer at the age of 55.[20][53] Gou's younger brother, Tony Gou, died in 2007 of leukemia.[54][55] Also that year, Hsu Ching-wei accused Gou of having an affair during the 1990s.[56] Gou married his second wife, choreographer Delia Tseng (曾馨瑩; Zēng Xīnyíng; born 1974) on 26 July 2008.[57] Tseng and Gou have three children.[58] Together, they have decided to give 90% of Gou's wealth away.[50]

Wealth

In 2016, Gou's net worth was US$5.6 billion.[59] By August 2017, Forbes listed his net worth at US$10.6 billion.[60] As of 2022, Gou had a net worth of US$6.8 billion, making him the sixth wealthiest person in Taiwan.[3]

References
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