Foxconn Announces Purchase of Belkin, Wemo, and Linksys (androidpolice.com)

Foxconn, the Taiwan-based company best-known for manufacturing Apple products announced that one of its subsidiaries (Foxconn Interconnect Technology) is purchasing U.S.-based Belkin for $866 million in cash. "Belkin owns a number of major brands, including Linksys and Wemo," notes Android Police. From the report: The buyout would make Foxconn a major player in consumer electronics, instead of just a contract manufacturing company. Belkin primarily sells phone/tablet accessories, but also manufactures networking equipment like routers and Wi-Fi range extenders. The company also sells a range of smart home products under the Wemo brand. According to The Financial Times, the purchase is subject to approval from the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment. In other words, there is a very real chance the acquisition could be blocked. President Trump blocked Broadcom's acquisition of Qualcomm earlier this month, based on advice from the committee.

Comments

Re:So Chinese buying Chinese

[Zocalo]

You're thinking of Hong Kong; Taiwan/Formosa's statehood is complex, but it's essentially been an autonomous nation since 1912. The key point here though is that the ROC is an entirely separate entity to the PRC on the mainland so it's not *quite* the same as the blocked Broadcom takeover of Qualcomm. Going to be interesting to see how Trump handles this given the whole "One China Policy" though; the RPC Chinese are already sensitive about the trade issues, so one mis-tweet could easily exacerbate the political situation further.