Terry Gou Tai Ming Donates....!

We were stunned to see Terry Gou Tai Ming, founder and Chairman of Hon Hai Precision Technologies, will be donating 90% of his NT$173 billion (US$5.7 billion) fortune to charity after he gets married on Saturday! The Straits Times wrote:

Terry Gou, Taiwanese high-tech tycoon and one-time suitor of Carina Lau, has pledged to donate 90 per cent of his NT$173-billion (S$7.7-billion) fortune to charity after he marries a dancer tomorrow.

The 57-year-old widower made the promise at his engagement banquet on Wednesday sitting beside his bride-to-be, 33-year-old dancer Delia Tseng, said reports.

His Hon Hai Group's flagship company, Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world's largest contract manufacturer in the electronics sector for brand-name companies such as Dell, Nokia and Sony.

Mr Gou said he had signed papers to pledge away his fortune before he decided to marry his fiancee, said reports quoting a lawmaker at the banquet.

But with Mr Gou's remarriage, she had to sign the documents too for his pledge to take effect.

He said he was moved when she signed the papers without hesitation.

Mr Gou made the decision to donate 90 per cent of his personal assets to charities in the future and his bride-to-be supports the decision without any hesitation,' lawmaker Wu Den-yih told TVBS news channel.

Mr Wu, who is also secretary-general of the ruling Kuomintang, was a guest at the banquet at the Grand Hyatt hotel. So were President Ma Ying-jeou and his wife.

Mr Gou's first wife died of breast cancer in 2005. They have two children.

Absolutely amazing! Mr. Gou is following in the footsteps of Bill Gates and Warrent Buffet and the precedent they are setting is an excellent example to all of us! Mr. Gou, however, has long been a philanthropist. In 2007 he donated NT15 billion dollars to the Taiwan University to develop a cancer hospital. Da Hsuan Feng, Senior Executive Vice President of the National Cheng Kung University wrote:

The news stated that Taiwan’s multibillionaire Terry Guo Taiming donated a whopping NT15 billion (around $455 million US,) lock-stock-and-barrel, to National Taiwan University to develop a cancer hospital and advanced medical facilities such as a proton therapy center and other biomedical engineering projects. To this point in time, this donation is the largest single gift made to a single university anywhere on earth. It even topped the $300 million gift of Joan and Sanford Weill's to Cornell University’s School of Medicine which was just announced as recent as June 13 of 2007. The claim then was that it was by far the largest single gift to a single university. This claim certainly did not withstand the test of time!

Da Hsuan Feng continued, saying:

Guo’s gift is sweeping the media almost on a daily basis in Taiwan and other regions of Asia, and is the intense discussions in coffee shops and restaurants all over East Asia. It is interesting that the intensity has not dropped off even though the event is by now well over a week ago. The “Terry Guo Effect,” as I would call it, seems to be here to stay.

Mr. Guo has indeed been a leader in both business and philanthropy. Perhaps other Tycoons will follow his example in the future. After all, who really needs billions of dollars?

Straits Times: Billionaire's act of love
Cimat: A Tale of Two “Typhoons”: The “Terry Guo Effect” (Opens PDF file)