Update – February 25th: Not so fast! According to Bloomberg, Foxconn has now reversed its decision to takeover Sharp because of “new material information.” No other details were revealed, but Foxconn stated it will not finalize the $6.2 billion deal until the situation with the new information is resolved.
Historic electronics maker Sharp has accepted a buyout offer from Foxconn, best known in the west for assembling many of the world’s most popular consumer electronics, including the iPhone, worth approximately $6.2-billion, according Japan’s largest business newspaper, Nikkei.
Should the deal be approved by the Japanese government, Foxconn will become one largest suppliers of smartphone and tablet LCD screens.
Despite the fact it holds lucrative contracts with the likes of smartphone makers like Apple — according to a 2014 article from CNET, Sharp has an entire factory dedicated to supplying Apple with screens for the iPhone — Sharp’s business has been in free fall for a number of years. The company played an integral in developing liquid crystal display technology, but has since been unable to compete against more manufacturing agile upstarts in China and Korea.
Foxconn has reportedly offered to purchase Sharp several times over the past couple of years. In 2012, the Taiwanese company offered to pay 550 yen per share (approximately $6.75 CAD at the current exchange rate). In accepting this latest offer from Foxconn, Sharp rejected a competing offer from a Japanese-backed fund.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Prachatai
[source]Nikkei[/source][via]The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg[/via]
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