Terry Gou

Terry Guo (Chinese: 郭台銘; pinyin: Guō Táimíng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Koeh Tâi-bêng; born 18 October 1950) is a Taiwanese billionaire businessman and politician. Guo is the founder and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics. Foxconn's English web site renders his surname as Gou. Founded in 1974, Foxconn grew to become an international business empire, becoming the largest private employer and exporter in Taiwan with a workforce of 1.2 million. As of 2024, Guo has a net worth of US$10.4 billion. Beginning in 2016, speculation surrounding Guo's political ambitions arose ahead of the 2020 presidential election. In 2019, Guo resigned from Foxconn and joined the Kuomintang (KMT) to run for president, declaring he was instructed by the sea goddess Mazu in a dream to contest the election. Guo ultimately lost the election, coming in second in the Kuomintang primary. After leaving the party following the 2019 primary, Guo rejoined in 2023 and announced his intention to run for president in the 2024 presidential election, but after running as an independent candidate, he ended his campaign in late November 2023. Once described as an "old friend" by CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, Guo has been characterized as friendly to mainland business interests during his political and business career. In December 2022, Guo was credited with helping to successfully lobby the Xi Jinping Administration to ease zero-COVID rules implemented during the pandemic. On foreign policy, Guo has criticized the Taiwan independence movement and has called for a de-escalation of Sino–American tensions. Owing to his business background and image as a political outsider, Guo has been compared in international media to U.S. president Donald Trump.