Foxconn to reveal management overhaul as Gou sets sights on presidency -source

Foxconn Interconnect Technology

06/06/2019 07:06

(Adds background)
    * Foxconn to set up committee to help run company -source
    * Committee includes 10-11 senior executives -source
    * Corporate reshuffle could overshadow Wisconsin investment
    * Company aims to boost transparency -source

    By Yimou Lee and Jeanny Kao
    TAIPEI, June 6 (Reuters) - Apple supplier Foxconn  2317.TW 
is planning to overhaul its management structure in a move that
would see more senior executives involved in the running of its
daily operations, a person with direct knowledge of the matter
told Reuters. 
    The decision comes as Chairman and Founder Terry Gou is
seeking to run in Taiwan's 2020 presidential election. He also
told Reuters in April that he planned to step down from Foxconn
to pave the way for younger talent to move up the ranks.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N21X1VE  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N21Z151
    Any management reshuffle, which the source said would be
announced at Foxconn's first investor conference on Tuesday,
could overshadow ambitious plans initially laid out by Gou,
including a $10 billion investment to create 13,000 jobs in
Wisconsin and an $8.8 billion display factory in southern China.
    Foxconn is already under the spotlight for having so far
failed to meet job-creation targets in Wisconsin, a plan cited
by U.S. President Donald Trump as proof that he was reviving
American manufacturing. 
    Reuters reported on Wednesday that Foxconn had offshored
more than 150 U.S. jobs to Mexico.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N23A1MC
    Investors are keen for any insight into succession plans at
the world's largest contract manufacturer whose business ranges
from smartphone assembling to panel manufacturing. 
    Shares in Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision
Industry, have dropped around 24% since Gou announced in April
his plans to run for president.  
    Foxconn is set to reveal on Tuesday a new "operations
committee" that will give senior executives from the group's
subsidiaries greater control, according to the source, who
declined to be named as the news had not yet been made public. 

 (Reporting By Yimou Lee and Jeanny Kao, additional reporting by
David Dolan in TOKYO; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Himani
Sarkar)
 ((annemarie.roantree@thomsonreuters.com; +852 97387151; Reuters
Messaging: annemarie.roantree.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))