Sharp Elbows

New twists in the battle for control of an ailing electronics firm. It is surely a promising sign for Terry Gou, the boss of Foxconn, that Japan’s largest business newspaper, the Nikkei, is reporting unflatteringly on his efforts to buy Sharp, a near-bankrupt electronics firm. At first the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), a government-backed fund, had seemed certain to snap up the company, and the Nikkei said little. INCJ may fight to the last, but a deal with Foxconn would show that Japan is changing its attitude to outsiders. One reason it may come off is that as a failing firm, Sharp matters less for national pride. A foreign takeover of a more successful firm would be different.