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Foxconn Set To Acquire Sharp Corporation For $5.6 Billion (appleinsider.com)

Posted by yaelk on from the who-would-have-thought dept.

Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturing/assembly company, is reported to be finalizing a deal to acquire Sharp Corporation for $5.6 billion, with the beleaguered company having finally rejected a proposed government rescue package in favor of the deal. Foxconn, formerly known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd, was brought to media attention in 2010, when the company installed suicide nets to stop the high number of employee suicides at company dorms. Although it seems out of the ordinary that one of the world's few producers of LCD panels is negotiating with Foxconn, the deal is expected to go through, making it one of the biggest foreign takeovers of a Japanese company.

48 comments

  1. last chance to buy quality Sharp products by frovingslosh · · Score: 2

    That's a shame. I've always found Sharp products to be of good quality and very reasonably priced. That will end very soon now.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by bugs2squash · · Score: 1

      Maybe they'll bring the MZ-80K back

      --
      Nullius in verba
    2. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 0

      You mean the ones that were expanded under Obama's 8 years as president?

      --
      So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
    3. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by retroworks · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Foxconn's Terry Gou is every bit a genius as Wozniak, and Taiwan should be proud of him. Gou's Foxconn techs are at least half (if not more) of the Apple IPhone tech advance (the Taiwan Foxcon techs were already manufacturing and designing IPods, and were wicked good at touch display, before iPhone was manufactured by them... there is a quarrel whether Apple bought key Taipai techs and moved them to Vancouver). If you are 582462 on Slashdot you should be way too old to generate racist anti-Taiwan rants. Taiwan geeks are quite honorable, and I have no doubt they can make Sharp proud.

      --
      Gently reply
    4. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by JanneM · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Geeks are just as good the world over, whether Japan, Taiwan, EU, US or China. Product quality has nothing to do with the quality of the designers and builders and everything to do with the budget and time constraints they have to do their stuff. And that is all about where their company wants to position itself in the price/quality/reputation landscape.

      Sharp has a well-deserved reputation for good quality and sometimes off-beat or niche products that delight a few even if they don't become huge sellers. And that's of course part reason why they've been in trouble for some years now. Foxconn doesn't have a reputation for premium products or for doing their own thing.

      I share the worry that Sharp as we know it will disappear, and just become another nameplate pasted on bland, forgettable me-too stuff.

      --
      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    5. Re: last chance to buy quality Sharp products by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      werd up

    6. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by Zebai · · Score: 2

      This may have been what Sharp was but I don't think that's the way they are today. Many of Sharp's current products are just rebranded from some other company they absorbed and put their name on it I think you would be hard pressed to find any genuine Sharp researched, built, and finalized product thats not some build on something they made years ago. I often found it funny that on some of their fax machines/copiers I could load another brand names cartridge into it perfectly even down to the software recognition of cartridge's on board chip if it had one.

    7. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by hawkinspeter · · Score: 1

      With high-resolution graphics! (And a real clock)

      --
      You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
    8. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by Nunya666 · · Score: 0

      If you don't think that what Snowden uncovered revealed that we have lost the freedoms that this country was built upon, then you are both naïve and blind.

      He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.

    9. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by KGIII · · Score: 0

      The quote is "liberties" and that is essential. You have lost no freedoms. I'll explain...

      You have the freedom to kill me. You are not at liberty to do so. If I threaten your life, you have the right to kill me.

      Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

      You might be familiar with another one?

      Give me liberty or give me death.

      Or, if you'd like a good understanding of the difference and how people don't really seem to understand that the two words aren't really interchangeable:

      Live free or die.

      While that might not seem important, it's vital. It is of great importance to understand the difference(s) between the words. Freedom is taken by physical force. If you are incarcerated, you have lost your freedom - but you still have some rights. If you are incarcerated, you may get be at liberty to take advantage of those rights. Unless you are physically restricted, you have not lost your freedom.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    10. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 0

      There were none

    11. Re:last chance to buy quality Sharp products by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 0

      Amazing how anyone who supports a factual rendition of history gets the "Flamebait" treatment, while the liar is upgraded.

  2. What happens to the Factorys? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    As foxcon will have a very hard time making the ones in the EU and japan like the ones in china.

    1. Re:What happens to the Factorys? by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      They get sold. Duh.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re:What happens to the Factorys? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not if those countries impose large import tariffs on electronic goods, forcing the manufacture of said goods within their own country

      Duh.

    3. Re: What happens to the Factorys? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      Tariffs typically don't work out the way they're intended. Suppose the eu does as you say; what's to stop say Canada from purchasing from a Chinese competitor that sells for a much lower price? Meanwhile EU customers are forced to pay more, and because the cost burden on Canadian customers is lower, adjacent industries that rely on purchasing these displays can now grow more freely.

      This is exactly why it's often said that tariffs cost a given economy more than they're trying to save.

    4. Re: What happens to the Factorys? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, in part, because China doesn't tend to let foreign interests gain controlling interests in Chinese companies, especially ones of strategic value.

      But I guess that was just an example: your general point is a good one. Protectionism often leads to uncompetitive local industry.

    5. Re:What happens to the Factorys? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Replace the workers with robots, just like they are doing to their Chinese factories.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re:What happens to the Factorys? by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      As foxcon will have a very hard time making the ones in the EU and japan like the ones in china.

      You are aware that Foxconn already owns factories in Europe for years?

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    7. Re:What happens to the Factorys? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They won't have a hard time because their executives are not complete retards. They follow EU legislation in the EU, Japanese legislation in Japan, Taiwanese legislation in Taiwan and Chinese legislation in China. Most of it anyway, like any other company except Uber.

    8. Re:What happens to the Factorys? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      They can negotiate w/ unions over having dorms, as well as union made suicide nets. More suicide nets => more American jobs

    9. Re:What happens to the Factorys? by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Wait, we make nets in the US now? ;-)

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  3. Ridiculous. Foxconn suicides are tiny compared to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the rest of China, or any other country. This is Slashdot, we should be debating facts, not yellow journalism.

    http://www.eeo.com.cn/ens/2013/0521/244294.shtml
    http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-and-dell-investigating-the-foxconn-working-conditions-2010-5?IR=T

    Google foxconn suicide rate vs china if you remain unconvinced.

  4. The link is broken. by NoImNotNineVolt · · Score: 1

    I'm having a hard time getting the linked page to load. The article text progresses rapidly from black-on-white to progressively lighter shades of gray as one looks down the page. By the start of the second paragraph, it's barely legible. The remainder of the article appears to be cut off entirely.

    Who the fuck submitted this shit?

    --
    Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
    1. Re:The link is broken. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To Read the Full Story, Subscribe or Sign In

    2. Re:The link is broken. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sigh. Paywalls.

      Not sure why this is on Yahoo Sports:
      Yahoo Sports

    3. Re:The link is broken. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Here Mr Whiny. Took 2 seconds with Google, you might try it.

    4. Re: The link is broken. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same here. I started to get a pop up, assumed it was malware so I closed the page.

    5. Re:The link is broken. by ncc74656 · · Score: 2

      The Referer Control extension for Chrome used to fix this: set it to use Google as the referrer and WSJ links just worked.

      I guess the WSJ no longer wants Google to index its articles.

      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
  5. not yellow journalism by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

    .... not yellow journalism ....

    Racist!

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:not yellow journalism by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Touche... you beat me to it!!!

  6. Paywalled by Striek · · Score: 1

    Sigh, I was hoping links to paywalled articles would go away with the new ownership. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...

    Link to non-paywalled article here.

    --
    "Government is like fire; a handy servant, but a dangerous master." -- George Washington
    1. Re:Paywalled by Striek · · Score: 1

      Nevermind, appears not to work.

      --
      "Government is like fire; a handy servant, but a dangerous master." -- George Washington
    2. Re:Paywalled by whipslash · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sorry about that. Gonna make sure to stop this going forward

    3. Re:Paywalled by Striek · · Score: 2

      Sorry about that. Gonna make sure to stop this going forward

      Thank you, sir. It is much appreciated, I'm sure by everyone. We cannot discuss an article we cannot read.

      --
      "Government is like fire; a handy servant, but a dangerous master." -- George Washington
    4. Re:Paywalled by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you, sir. It is much appreciated, I'm sure by everyone. We cannot discuss an article we cannot read.

      On Slashdot? Hahahahaha!

      Wait, you were serious...

    5. Re:Paywalled by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Right you are

    6. Re:Paywalled by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you, sir. It is much appreciated, I'm sure by everyone. We cannot discuss an article we cannot read.

      Amateur.

  7. Readable Links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Bloomberg : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-21/foxconn-said-to-offer-about-600-billion-yen-for-japan-s-sharp
    Fortune : http://fortune.com/2016/01/21/reports-foxconn-makes-bid-for-struggling-sharp/?iid=sr-link1

  8. Sharp used to make cool techie stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Like this thing..

    Of course, that was back in the days before mindless consumerism, when "tech" meant something beyond "Facebook portal and devices for people who wouldn't know a transistor from a capacitor".

    1. Re:Sharp used to make cool techie stuff by Frederic54 · · Score: 1

      When I was in college/university I had a PC1245 then a PC1260, with thermic-printer, tape interface to save programs, etc, it was a great computer, I miss it :-/
      I even bought the assembler/disassembler on tape to write programs in native ASM.

      --
      "Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
  9. Foxconn by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

    "Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturing/assembly company" if you need to be told who Foxconn is, you shouldn't bother being on Slashdot lol.

  10. Sharp was cool by execthis · · Score: 2

    Sharp really had it for a while, then lost it. The Zaurus line was so cool and so ahead of everything else at the time. Does anyone remember Ångström distribution, OpenZaurus, and Cacko ROM? I think Angstrom was kind of like a precursor for xda-developers.

  11. A real shame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't believe the Japanese would sell Sharp, a company known for innovation for decades, to the Chinese. Foxconn treats their workers terribly and churns out crap. Now all of Sharp's IP will languish and eventually disappear. It's the end of Sharp entirely.

    It's hard to stay afloat these days but the idea of Sharp being sold to the lowest bidder is disheartening. This is like if COBY bought SONY.

  12. Totally Off-Topic by KGIII · · Score: 1

    Wait... You said, "wicked good." I'm not there and won't be until spring, nor am I (technically) a native, but my home is in Maine. I sometimes here the "wicked good" as far south as Massachusetts. Once in a while I hear a non-native say it. Sometimes I hear it as far off as Vermont and I hear it in New Hampshire quite a bit.

    But, most of the time, it's a Mainah. Ayuh. Maine, being home of the "wicked good," does not have many Slashdot users though your name rings a bell. Perchance, are you a Mainer and I've forgotten? And yes, I have a "house" here but my "home" is in Maine. I have a few houses that belong only to me and only one of them is home.

    Anyhow, sorry for the OT reply but I get curious. I also figure the thread's a couple of days old now so it should be all good.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."