Foxconn announced it was going to buy Sharp, and then said it isn't going to do it yet.

Brian Santo, Senior editor, Test & Measurement / Components, Light Reading

February 25, 2016

1 Min Read
Foxconn Set to Buy Sharp. Maybe.

Foxconn Technology's attempt to buy Sharp, an on-again off-again proposition since the former first invested in a subsidiary of the latter in 2012, was definitively on again Thursday morning… until a few hours later when it was off again.

By the time this is posted, the deal could be back on again. Watch the comments section below.

Foxconn Electronics Inc. , based in Taiwan, announced a deal to buy Sharp Electronics Corp. for something in excess of $4.5 billion, outbidding a Japanese investment firm. Shortly thereafter, Sharp informed Foxconn of possibly billions of dollars worth of liabilities, according to The Wall Street Journal. Foxconn (formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industrial) subsequently halted the proceedings.

Sharp, once a leading electronics producer, has been consistently losing money of late; one of its most profitable remaining product lines is display screens. Foxconn is a noted assembler of Apple iPhones. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) currently sources most of its iPhone screens from rival LG.

Apple does not comment on its suppliers, but it's fairly easy to connect the dots. Apple would no doubt prefer to buy touchscreens from a vendor that is not a direct competitor (or at least not much of one; Sharp does have one mobile phone product), and Foxconn would no doubt be pleased to comply if it can do so profitably, hence its interest in buying Sharp.

— Brian Santo, Senior Editor, Components, T&M, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Brian Santo

Senior editor, Test & Measurement / Components, Light Reading

Santo joined Light Reading on September 14, 2015, with a mission to turn the test & measurement and components sectors upside down and then see what falls out, photograph the debris and then write about it in a manner befitting his vast experience. That experience includes more than nine years at video and broadband industry publication CED, where he was editor-in-chief until May 2015. He previously worked as an analyst at SNL Kagan, as Technology Editor of Cable World and held various editorial roles at Electronic Engineering Times, IEEE Spectrum and Electronic News. Santo has also made and sold bedroom furniture, which is not directly relevant to his role at Light Reading but which has already earned him the nickname 'Cribmaster.'

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