Sim Wong Hoo, the founder of Creative Technology, has passed away peacefully aged 67, according to a company announcement seen by MS News.
“On behalf of all staff of the company, the board expresses its deepest sorrow over the death of Mr Sim and conveys its condolences to his family,” Creative said.
Under Mr Sim, Creative was known for the Sound Blaster PC sound card, speakers, and various electronic products including e-dictionaries.
Source: Sim Wong Hoo on Facebook
He founded the company in 1981.
Following his passing, Lee Kheng Nam will step in as acting chairman. He was previously an independent non-executive director.
Meanwhile, Ng Kai Wa, also an independent non-executive director, has been appointed as acting vice chairman.
Song Siow Hui, president of Creative Labs, will be interim CEO.
“We feel a great loss especially since Mr Sim and I recently had extensive discussions on the future direction of the company,” Mr Song said.
“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.”
His passing reportedly came as a sudden development. Creative did not announce the cause of death.
Mr Sim was known for being a bachelor all his life.
He told Yahoo Finance in an interview in 2019 that having a family means not being able to take risks.
As such, his advice to other entrepreneurs was not to get married.
Mr Sim was also involved in a legal battle with Apple over music player patents, which was settled when Apple paid Creative S$134 million (US$100 million) in 2006.
Despite a downturn in the 2000s, Creative came back with its Super X-Fi technology, which led to a company resurgence.
“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,” Mr Song said in the announcement.
Featured image adapted from CNBC International TV on YouTube.
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