14 DAY TRIAL // Interviewed at a Taipei shareholder meeting yesterday, Foxconn founder Terry Gou referred to Apple’s CEO as a “weiren,” a term used by the Chinese to denote great men, but only so often.
Sharing his thoughts on Steve Jobs’ passion to make the world better through technology, Gou said “I am convinced that he is doing this because he is dedicated to his ideals and his vision, not out of any need to make more money.”
“I have often asked myself if I would have worked as hard if I was as ill as Steve Jobs. My answer is that my wife most likely would not have let me work, and I would have stayed home. But I am not Steve Jobs.”
Those who track Apple in the news should well know that Apple’s CEO is a cancer survivor who is now on his second medical leave of absence in just as many years.
His condition remains unknown as appears ever more frail at his company’s keynote presentations.
Queried on the controversial suicides occurring at his factories, Gou responded: “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,” he elaborated.
“At the moment, I’m feeling guilty. But at that moment, I didn’t think I should be taking full responsibility,” he said.
Just recently Foxconn was under fire, both literally and figurative, when one of its iPad manufacturing plants went ablaze spurring another wave of negative headlines. Business Insider also reports that during the meeting Gou was heckled by a minority shareholder. The Foxconn boss reduced him to silence after learning he owned but a meagre five shares in the company.
Gou reportedly told him to shut up, and that he could sit at the big table with him when he has at least 5,000 shares.