Foxconn tycoon Terry Gou: Taiwan’s wealthiest man - and future presidential candidate
- Gou’s business success could well give him an edge in the race but he still has a series of hurdles to overcome, observers say
Less than a year ago, Foxconn’s billionaire chairman Terry Gou said he didn’t “even have the one millionth of intent to run” for the presidency of Taiwan.
Fast-forward to Wednesday and his announcement that he will vie to be the opposition Kuomintang’s candidate for the presidential election next year has shaken the island’s political landscape.
Vowing to do something for the younger generation, Gou went back on his word, saying the 2020 race will be “extremely critical in determining Taiwan’s future in the next 20 years in terms of politics, defence and the economy”.
Gou, 68, has a reputation as one of the island’s most successful businesspeople and may well have a better chance at challenging the incumbent, President Tsai Ing-wen, than other KMT aspirants, including former legislature speaker Wang Jin-pyng and former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu.
But analysts say he still has to pass a series of tests to show that he can do better than Tsai, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.
Gou’s rise to the mantle of the richest man on the island with an estimated net worth of US$7.4 billion began in a rented shed on the outskirts of Taipei in 1974. That’s when Gou started Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, with US$7,500 and just 10 staff making plastic parts for television sets.