Kozo Takahashi, the president of Sharp, on Thursday.
”TOKYO — For a few hours on Thursday, it looked as if Sharp, the ailing Japanese consumer electronics company, had secured a $5.5 billion takeover from Foxconn of Taiwan, the giant contract manufacturer that churns out products for Apple and other foreign brands.
Then things took a left turn.
Foxconn unexpectedly balked just before the deal was to be sealed. The reason was that the day before, Sharp told its potential new owner that it could be liable for close to $3 billion in potential liabilities, according to a person with knowledge of the talks.
On Thursday, Foxconn said it needed to review “new material information” from Sharp before committing.
The surprise disclosure was the latest example of the huge challenges facing Sharp — which has lost billions of dollars over the last several years — and anyone who hopes to turn it around……”
Source: New York Times – http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/business/foxconn-sharp.html?_r=0
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