Terry Gou Net Worth

What Is Terry Gou's Net Worth?

Terry Gou is a Taiwanese businessman and politician who has a net worth of $11 billion. Terry Gou is the richest person in Taiwan.

Terry Gou founded the multinational electronics contract manufacturing company Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, in 1974, and he previously served as the company's chairman and CEO. The company has grown into the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer. Gou's factories, which produce popular gadgets like the iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Xbox, PlayStation and the Wii, amass around 40% of the world's consumer electronic products, but at a high cost, i.e., under serious allegations of unfair and unsafe labor practices. Nowadays, Gou holds around 13% of the shares in Hon Hai, which currently employs 1.2 million people. In 2022, Foxconn's revenue was approximately US$213.90 billion. "Circuits Assembly" magazine has named Foxconn the world's largest electronics manufacturing services company for 14 consecutive years. In 2024, Terry was said to be the third-richest person in Taiwan, and his net worth was an estimated US$10.4 billion. Gou resigned from Foxconn in 2019 to run for president of the Republic of China as a member of the Kuomintang party. He finished in second place in the Kuomintang primary and subsequently left the party. Terry ran as an independent candidate in the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election, but he dropped out of the race in November 2023.

Early Life

Terry Gou was born on October 18, 1950, in Banqiao, Taipei County, Taiwan. Before the Chinese Civil War, Gou's parents lived in the Shanxi Province on mainland China, and in 1949, they fled to Taiwan. Terry's father was a policeman, and he fought for the Kuomintang in the war. As his family's second child, Gou was educated from elementary school to post-college, then he worked at a medicine plant and rubber factory until he was 24. Terry grew up with three siblings, and his younger brothers, Tony Gou and Gou Tai-chiang, also became successful businessmen. Sadly, Tony died of leukemia in 2007. To complete his national service obligations, Terry joined the Republic of China Air Force, serving as an anti-aircraft artillery officer. He was stationed in Kinmen when it was feared that the People's Liberation Army might invade the island as a stepping stone to later invade Taiwan. In 1973, Gou was discharged from the military.

Business Career

In 1974, Gou founded Hon Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan with just $7,500 in startup money. The business, which is also known as Foxconn, started out with 10 elderly employees and made plastic parts for TVs in a rented shed. In 1980, the company received an order to make a console joystick for Atari. In the '80s, Terry expanded the business by going on a nearly yearlong trip across the United States to find new customers. He arrived at the headquarters of several companies uninvited, and he often received orders despite having security called on him. In 1988, he opened a factory in Shenzhen that eventually included housing, medical care, dining, and chicken farming. In 1996, the company began building chassis for Compaq computers, which led to more work building bare-bones chassis for IBM, HP, and Apple. Gou retired from Foxconn in 2019, and his special assistant, Young Liu, was named the company's new chairman. Gou also owns HMD Global, which was founded in 2016 to sell Nokia phones. In 2021, he became the biotech company Eirgenix's biggest shareholder.

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Political Career

In 1970, Gou joined the Kuomintang party, but his membership lapsed after 2000. He has opposed the Taiwan independence movement and has claimed that the Democratic Progressive Party "exalts Taiwan independence and hates and opposes China." In April 2019, Terry joined the Kuomintang party again, and later that month, he announced that he would be running in the Kuomintang primary for the next year's presidential election. He said that the sea goddess Mazu had told him in a dream that he should run in the Republic of China's 2020 presidential election. Gou came in second in the Kuomintang primary, and in September 2019, he withdrew from the party. The Taiwan People's Party offered him the top position on its party list for the 2020 legislative election, but he turned it down. In April 2023, he announced his intention to run in the Taiwanese 2024 general election, and a few months later, he revealed that actress/writer Lai Pei-hsia (aka Tammy Lai) would be his running mate. Terry qualified for the presidential election in November 2023, but before the month was over, he dropped out of the race.

Personal Life

Terry married Serena Lin in 1974, and they remained together until her death in 2005 from breast cancer. The couple co-founded an educational charity in 2000, and Terry intended on eventually donating 1/3 of his wealth to charitable organizations. After Serena died, their daughter assumed leadership of the organization. Their son works in both the real estate and film industries. Gou had an extramarital affair with a woman named Chen Chung-mei in the '90s. The woman got a private investigator to film her having sex with Terry in order to blackmail him. Gou initially agreed to give her money, but the next time he met with her, he had Chen and the private investigator arrested. He also sued them for extortion. Terry married choreographer Delia Tseng in 2008, and they have welcomed three children together. The couple has decided that they will give away 90% of Gou's wealth.

Real Estate

In 2002, Terry paid $30 million for a Roztěž castle in the Czech Republic town Kutná Hora.

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