Sim Wong Hoo founded Creative Technology in 1981, and had led the home-grown business since its inception. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Creative Technology chairman and chief executive Sim Wong Hoo, one of Singapore’s most famous tech entrepreneurs, died on Wednesday (Jan 4). He was 67.
Sim founded the home-grown business in 1981, and had led the company since its inception.
Under his leadership, Creative became famous for its Sound Blaster sound cards and digital entertainment products. Its audio products include wireless speakers and headphones, amplifiers, digital audio converters and home theatre systems.
“On behalf of all staff of the company, the board expresses its deepest sorrow over the death of Sim and conveys its condolences to his family,” said Creative in a bourse filing on Thursday, adding that Sim died peacefully. The company did not give further details.
Sim started Creative as a computer shop in Chinatown in 1981. Its Sound Blaster sound card, launched in 1989, was a game changer in allowing PCs to generate quality sound. It had sold 400 million units as at 2019.
He had also gone to war with the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs over their companies’ portable music players. He sued the iPod maker in 2006 for patent infringements and walked away with a US$100 million (S$134 million) settlement.
But the iPod killed Creative’s MP3 player, which was created in 1999 - two years before Apple’s device. With competition and industry changes, Creative’s fortunes took a dive and Sim’s name also dropped off the headlines.
Creative shares traded on the Singapore Exchange, where it has been listed since 1994, dropped from a high of $64 in March 2000 to around $1 in 2017. The company voluntarily delisted its shares from the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2007.
It made a comeback in 2019 with Super X-Fi, an audio technology that it spent 20 years developing to the tune of US$100 million. The tech allows headphone users to experience sound in expansive, three-dimensional detail, like in real life.
Creative’s board has appointed lead independent non-executive director Lee Kheng Nam as the company’s acting chairman and independent non-executive director Ng Kai Wa as acting vice-chairman.
It also appointed Song Siow Hui, president of the company’s Creative Labs business unit, as interim chief executive officer.
Song, who had worked with Sim for more than 30 years, said his death was a sad and sudden development.
“We feel a great loss especially since Sim and I recently had extensive discussions on the future direction of the company. During those discussions, Sim was full of fresh vision. Even on the night before, he had a long discussion with the engineering team and was scheduled to meet with the online sales team the next day.
“The best thing to do now is to ensure the continued smooth running of the company, and also to execute and realise the vision and strategy that Sim had for the company,” he said.
Former foreign minister George Yeo, a non-executive director on Creative’s board, said he was deeply saddened to lose an old friend.
“Still remember the evening he presented me and (then) President Ong Teng Cheong with a Nomad MP3 player storing 12 songs. He was always bubbling with ideas. Never left a meeting with him without new inspirations,” Yeo wrote in a Facebook post.
Home-grown gaming hardware company Razer’s chief executive Tan Min-Liang said on Facebook that he often met Sim to discuss things like audio technology and design.
“Will miss him – the technology world and Singapore has lost a legend,” he wrote.
