The billionaire creator of Foxconn withdraws from the Taiwan presidential contest

On Friday, Foxconn founder Terry Gou, a millionaire, withdrew from the race to become Taiwan's next president hours before the deadline to register.

Gou stated, “I have never yielded in the battlefield of international business,” without explaining the retreat. “For the future of the Republic of China, choosing to yield is all the love I can give to my homeland,” Gou said, referring to Taiwan.

Tammy Lai, Gou's running mate, stated on Friday that the pair would “not appear on the ballot in 2024.”

Taiwan will elect a president on January 13, 2024.

In August, self-made billionaire Gou resigned from Foxconn's board to run as an independent. The septuagenarian ran before in 2019.

A day after his last-ditch efforts to construct a unified ticket between Kuomintang candidate Hou Yu-ih and Taiwan People's Party candidate Ko Wen-je crumbled on live television, Gou withdrew. The two registered to run independently on Friday morning. Gou and the opposition candidates wanted to defeat the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party, but he continuously trailed in the polls.