After years of stalled and failed negotiations, the boards of Foxconn Technology Group and Sharp Corp. agreed Wednesday to a majority takeover of Japan's Sharp by Taiwan electronics assembly giant Foxconn. The 103-year-old Sharp makes a wide array of consumer electronics for the Japanese market, but is mostly known outside Japan for its TVs and smartphone displays. It's those displays that reportedly drew the interest of Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou, who wants to move his company up the value chain from low-margin manufacturing at its gigantic factory complex in China.
Foxconn will spend about $3.5 billion for a 66 percent stake in debt-laden Sharp, a drop from the $5.5 billion it was expected to pay as recently as a few weeks ago, before Foxconn discovered $3 billion in potential liabilities. When completed, it will be the largest ever foreign takeover of a Japanese consumer electronics firm.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
July 5 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include an extrajudicial detainment camp, 'alligator Alcatraz', and tax cuts for billionaires.
-
5 explosively funny cartoons about the 4th of JulyCartoons Artists take on liberty and justice for all, a terrifying firework, and more
-
Jeff in Venice: a "triumph of tackiness"?In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff displaySpeed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loomSpeed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panelsSpeed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
