Billionaire Terry Gou, Foxconn CEO: I Have No Idea How Much Money I Have, 'I'm Working For Society'

After a string of eleven suicides this year at Chinese electronics manufacturer Foxconn put the company under intense international scrutiny, the builder of iPhones granted Bloomberg Businessweek exclusive access to the press-shy CEO Terry Gou.

Previous investigations have focused on the workers, but Businessweek has gotten Gou's take on the suicides--and it's blunt. Here's Gou:

"I should be honest with you. The first one, second one, and third one, I did not see this as a serious problem. We had around 800,000 employees, and here [in Longhua, a factory campus] we are about 2.1 square kilometers. At the moment, I'm feeling guilty. But at that moment, I didn't think I should be taking full responsibility."

Gou, whom Forbes ranks as Taiwan's richest man with a $5.9 billion net worth, got his start making television knobs with a $7,500 loan from his mother. He claims to be not quite sure how much money he actually has: "I am not interested in knowing how much I have. I don't care. I am working not for money at this moment, I am working for society, I am working for my employees."

There's a joke among executives who work with Foxconn, Businessweek says, that in 20 years everything in the world will be made by Foxconn and sold by Walmart. Author Chang Tien-wen, who wrote a book about Gou, said "Steve Jobs' achievements wouldn't be possible without Terry." His factory in Longhua makes 137,000 iPhones each day, or, to put it in more startling terms, about 90 a minute.

The article includes some great tidbits about Gou. His current wife didn't know how big of a deal he was when he first hired her to teach him to dance, but she did know that he "danced very well for an amateur." At their wedding, Gou did 30 push-ups on stage, after taking off his tuxedo jacket.

To address the high suicide rate, which, to be fair, is lower than the U.S. national average, Foxconn has instituted a "Prevention-Reengineering Caring" program, whose "Campus Loving Heart" Web site and counseling programs are supposed to help workers improve morale. "

Read the entire article at Bloomberg Businwessweek.

Comments

[tuberider]

02:31 PM on 09/13/2010

Cool. Free solar for everybody!

[Ramkshrestha]

12:57 PM on 09/13/2010

You get money from the society. You, therefore, must work for the society. We cannot build buildings without foundation.

[angrymanspokane]

11:55 AM on 09/13/2010

This guy is full of it. Rich people get rich and stay rich by knowing exactly how much they have, where it is, and how to get more. "Working for my employee...", come on!

[ragtag]

09:54 AM on 09/13/2010

Apple uses FoxConn like WalMart uses everyone else...

[ragtag]

09:52 AM on 09/13/2010

"I am working not for money at this moment, I am working for society, I am working for my employees."

With a spiel like that, he must be one of those new Communist Republicans...

"To address the high suicide rate, which, to be fair, is lower than the U.S. national average,"

Talk about a misleading sentence. Show me a "company" in the US with a higher suicide rate...

[G52]

06:27 AM on 09/13/2010

He is on a mission from God!

[Scentedflower]

08:18 PM on 09/12/2010

How much money do you have? I don't know. You are a Du mmy Yummy Gou-lash .

[atexasdem]

10:09 PM on 09/11/2010

While I admire and encourage all those who through hard work achieve billionair status I have to ask; When is enough, enough? A true billionair can not in one lifetime spend all his money. The executive who is given hundreds of million every year in salary, the billionair hedge fund manager all seem quite willing to either destroy the very system that made them rich or exploit the people who made them rich. Why?
Does owning another mansion bring more happiness? Does a 200 foot yacht bring more joy than a 100 foot yacht? At some certain point I have to ask, why more?
Certain things nature doesn't discriminate about. Steve Jobs got cancer, Even billionairs must go to the bathroom alone and in the end, we all die alone.
Obviously I'll never be a billionair, I'm just not driven enough. But if, somehow, a mega rich person reads this perhaps they could respond. Why? When is enough, enough?

[mike72]

11:32 PM on 09/11/2010

Well for people like Guo, making money is no longer the drive for working even harder. It is all about winning and pushing forth the frontier of business operations. He enjoys the expansion of his "empire" and works twice as hard as before just to enjoy the ride.

But realistically, at least people like Mr. Guo MAKE THINGS AND CREATE REAL WEALTH and MAKE WORKS available for the common folks in society, unlike the Wall St billionairs who are nothing but blllll000d suckers on the society.

So for that, GUO is million times more valuable over those real blll00d suckers in Wall St.

[skantea]

04:12 AM on 09/13/2010

I'm not a big fan of the "Greedy) rich but Mike 72 has a point.
Guo is at least a true working man and as such should be congratulated for starting from scratch.
However, there's no way he's the richest man in China.
I guarantee that title goes to either a corrupt Government official, or some gangster dealing in human trafficking or organ harvesting (or maybe all three).
Like I always say, we'll never know who the richest men are because it won't be traceable and they won't tell.

[hypnotoad72]

07:33 PM on 09/11/2010

The same Foxconn that helps build Apple components?

The same Apple that has Al Gore on its Board of Directors (since 2003. which doesn't help tangential matters)?

I literally stumbled on this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/23/iphone4-pollution-apple

Apple did an investigation into the use of child labor - http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223101046.  

So why is Apple not investigating pollution that the company making their goods in turn creates?  Foxconn is one of their more-used providers...  and most people know Al Gore's stance on environmental issues, and since we're not on Apple's board or have anything else to do with Steve Jobs...

[mike72]

11:26 PM on 09/11/2010

Actually, Apple is the root cause ... Apple only offers $11 for each iPhone built in China. But it turns around and sell it for $700. In order to make a 3% profit out of that $11, Foxxconn and the other Apple suppliers have to make 12 hours a shift, two shifts a day work for the factory. So realistically, Apple is the real blllooood sucker in this whole scheme.

Of course you will never make the connection when Apple makes a "concern" look at how the suppliers provide the parts and the assemly of the iPhone and looks all "shock" about the facts. It is a staged act that Apple is very good at.

Next time when you shake that iPhone of yours, don't think cool, think blooood.

[nomoredead]

06:49 AM on 09/11/2010

The days of cheap labor is coming to an end in China. They have seen how much pay a person gets and what amount of work other people in other countries do and are demanding it. They have learned the results of striking and of unions. They see this billionaire and want to be like him.

The bright side is eventually when fuel prices rise and shipping puts additional cost on a product we will see some factories return to the US.

[ChiProgressive]

05:29 PM on 09/11/2010

"The days of cheap labor is coming to an end in China."

Time to move manufacturing to Africa.

Factories making consumer products will never come back to the US.

The best we could hope for is to hold onto and expand high end and high tech manufacturing. Too bad Germany has outdone us on that front too.

[nomoredead]

06:04 PM on 09/11/2010

Not just the Chinese but with access to the internet most people around the world are becoming aware of what they should be earning while the company is making a huge profit.

The days of people being dumb enough to work for $3 per day are coming to an end.

[G52]

06:32 AM on 09/13/2010

Africa is also under the scope!

In Africa; http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64599/nicolas-van-de-walle/trade-unions-and-the-coming-of-democracy-in-africa

[ColdSnowMan]

04:24 AM on 09/11/2010

He's working for the good of society, just like the absolute monarchs of history (and Saudi Arabia) and today's absolute dictators.

He's working for the good of society and his surfs will benefit from the same trickle down economics Regan and Obama endorse.

[jabailo]

03:10 AM on 09/11/2010

Pretty funny that Jobs "high tech" iPhone is really just an el cheapo knockoff from Taiwan.

[AtheistUS]

03:09 AM on 09/11/2010

Can one person really produce so much good for society that in exchange for this he gets billions of dollars?
I am not sure. Almost sure that the answer is "no". I think the whole system is too naive and simplistic if it allows that.

[verypragmatic]

03:46 AM on 09/11/2010

what is even more naive is this stupid progressive thought that someone who makes a
billion dollars puts it in a piggy bank somewhere and it's gone out of use. IF you were independent thinking and smart, you'd understand that it is the best thing for someone who (on average) starts humbly and creates a company that is successful enough to make that much money should be smarter then as what to do with it... when a bum wins the lottery on average in 8 years they are back where they started.... so dividing that money up among his works goes where? do they start a University? Do they put libraries in multiple cities? Do that fund AIDS research? Now...give it to an elitist arrogant... but naive (in business) academic fool like most politicians and what happens? MUCH is wasted. It takes someone smart enough to have made it to know the best way to utilize it for good. And regardless of the crap you've been fed.. people Like John D. Rockefeller, Carnegie, Bill Gates, etc have done more good then 95% of any politician. From Major Universities, The Majority of black Colleges, The beginning of major medical research (John Hopkins and the cure for hookworm all through the south.... not paid by government).
It's like you were suppose to learn from your parents.. you do not know the value of a $ unless you earn it.

[Doc Wattson]

04:44 AM on 09/11/2010

Fanned

[Badfinger1]

10:05 AM on 09/11/2010

..I agree with much of what you said but each of the above philanthropists have wonderful big government tax incentives to behave that way...Like todays modern big contract athletes,they don't come from the "hood",make good and get all polyana...The foundations that are created are tax shelters that the big bad government allow so as to incentivise wealth distribution through charitable foundations...Good will,yes...But tax shelter,absolutely..

[OldTulsan]

06:19 PM on 09/10/2010

While the U.S. has its share of "Gordon Gekko" CEOs, we do have some positive role models...

Rick Arquilla, President and COO of Roto-Rooter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8FuiCdayk8
YouTube - Undercover Boss "Roto Rooter Sums it Up"

Aaron Feuerstein

http://www.bizspirit.com/spkrfullbio/bus/08_FeuersteinAaron.html
The International Conference on Business and Consciousness

"Aaron Feuerstein

the third-generation president and CEO of Malden Mills, producer of the revolutionary fabric, Polartec. When a fire ravaged much of his textile factory, Feuerstein became the symbol of a socially responsible business owner who rules by his conscience. Despite overwhelming pressure to resume operations overseas, Feuerstein instead pledged to rebuild the mill at home and pay his employees during the three-month reconstruction..."

Ross Perot, former CEO of EDS, who personally led a rescue mission to free EDS employees being held hostage in Iran.

He tried to warn us about "free" trade:

http://www.youtube.com/v/EHSnXFEzE4E&hl=en_US&fs=1&
Perot on NAFTA

[RW11]

06:16 AM on 09/11/2010

In the ten years leading up to the start of NAFTA (January 1, 1994), the unemployment rate averaged 6.5%. In the ten years after NAFTA, the unemployment rate averaged 5.1%. In the fifteen years leading up to the start of NAFTA, the unemployment rate averaged 7%. In the fifteen years after NAFTA, the unemployment rate averaged 5.1%. Run the figures yourself - http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE/downloaddata?cid=12

[nomoredead]

07:43 AM on 09/11/2010

I wonder how many of those are good paying jobs with benefits and pensions.

[dwill123]

05:31 PM on 09/10/2010

Give me 10% of it and I'll count it for you.

[arunsjunk]

06:51 PM on 09/10/2010

He'd need to count it to give you 10%.

[ColdSnowMan]

04:28 AM on 09/11/2010

Fanned & Fav'd!

[Doc Wattson]

04:45 AM on 09/11/2010

Someone doesn't get the joke