- Lawrence Ng
Singaporean Founder Of 'Sound Blaster' Passes Away At 67
Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative Technology and one of Singapore's most well-known tech entrepreneurs, died on Wednesday. He was 67.
Mr Sim launched the family-owned firm in 1981 and has run it ever since.
Creative Technology is a technology firm famous for its digital entertainment devices such as sound cards and audio goods such as wireless speakers, headphones, amplifiers, digital audio converters, and home theatre systems.
The company known for their Sound Blaster brand of sound cards, which were found in most computers to enhance audio output and input quality in the 80's. Other digital entertainment items produced by the business include MP3 players and gaming accessories. It has also expanded into new fields such as wearables and soundbars.
The board of directors of Creative has named lead independent non-executive director Lee Kheng Nam as acting chairman and independent non-executive director Ng Kai Wa as acting vice-chairman.
It has named Mr Song Siow Hui, president of the company's Creative Labs business segment, as temporary CEO. Mr Song, who worked with Mr Sim for almost 30 years, described his death as a great loss.
“I have known and worked with Mr. Sim for over 30 years. This is a sad and sudden development and we feel a great loss especially since Mr. Sim and I recently had extensive discussions on the future direction of the Company. During those discussions, Mr. 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 Mr. Sim had for the Company,” He added.