In a statement to CNN, Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai Technology Group confirmed Gou’s resignation and said it “would not immediately elect a director” as the board had eight other directors and independent directors. A self-made, septuagenarian billionaire with a net worth of $6.8 billion, the 72-year-old Gou founded Foxconn, established as Hon Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan in 1974.
Having declared his intention to run as an independent presidential candidate in 2024, Gou now has to secure approximately 290,000 endorsements between September 19 and November 2. Taiwan’s presidential election, due in January, comes at period of fraught tensions between the island of 24 million people and its superpower neighbor, China. Gou has criticized Taiwan’s independence movement and is characterized by his friendliness towards mainland Chinese business interests.