The One Man
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On 6 Sep 2007, there was an article in Business Times on Creative Technology which I think is good to put it on my blog. Besides knowing Creative Technology development, there are also other things that we can learn.
If you have read one of my article about a taxi-driver turned into millionaire (indirectly) because of the founder of Creative Technology Mr Sim Wong Hoo, I am sure you will be interested to read this article. Personally, Mr Sim Wong Hoo is one of the few local CEOs that I admire. He is a role model to many entrepreneurs. From various reports, I know this man to be philanthropist; he does good deeds behind the reporters. He is humble and kind-hearted. I remember when One.99 was at the verge of bankruptcy, very few stretched out a helping hand. Mr Sim was one of them. Bank? Bank was trying hard to recoup their money by folding it up. (That’s why my personal philosophy is to do my best to ensure that banks earn terrible interest from me). I also remember there was a story which was published on the paper about some China men selling potteries (or something like this) in a pasar malam but faced with extremely poor sales. I think it was due to bad weather and they seem to be in financial difficulties. And then this man walk passed their stall, understand their situation and cleared their stocks. If I remember correctly, Mr Sim bought it back to his company and offered it to his employee at cheap price. Subsequently, this was reported on the paper. If you know the exact story, please share with me. And the most important lesson any Singaporean can learn from Mr Sim is this: if you are willing to work hard in life, you can be successful too, with or without an MBA.
Anyway, there are sufficient good reports about his humble man in the internet, so I don’t need to waste my time here. The following is an extract from Business Times and you should be able to learn two things from the article:
1) Updates on Creative Technology and little historical background.
2) This may be a little bit “deep” to many – in the long run, tech stock is unpredictable, cyclical and that Warren Buffett doesn’t has a single tech stock in his top ten investments. I don’t deny that there may be wonderful tech stock but that is only one in a thousands. For as far as I know, the more impressive one are Venture Holdings (SGX), Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq) etc. The rest of them especially the dot.coms, they come and go like tidal waves.
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"The need to engage the market here creatively"
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On 6 Sep 2007, there was an article in Business Times on Creative Technology which I think is good to put it on my blog. Besides knowing Creative Technology development, there are also other things that we can learn.
If you have read one of my article about a taxi-driver turned into millionaire (indirectly) because of the founder of Creative Technology Mr Sim Wong Hoo, I am sure you will be interested to read this article. Personally, Mr Sim Wong Hoo is one of the few local CEOs that I admire. He is a role model to many entrepreneurs. From various reports, I know this man to be philanthropist; he does good deeds behind the reporters. He is humble and kind-hearted. I remember when One.99 was at the verge of bankruptcy, very few stretched out a helping hand. Mr Sim was one of them. Bank? Bank was trying hard to recoup their money by folding it up. (That’s why my personal philosophy is to do my best to ensure that banks earn terrible interest from me). I also remember there was a story which was published on the paper about some China men selling potteries (or something like this) in a pasar malam but faced with extremely poor sales. I think it was due to bad weather and they seem to be in financial difficulties. And then this man walk passed their stall, understand their situation and cleared their stocks. If I remember correctly, Mr Sim bought it back to his company and offered it to his employee at cheap price. Subsequently, this was reported on the paper. If you know the exact story, please share with me. And the most important lesson any Singaporean can learn from Mr Sim is this: if you are willing to work hard in life, you can be successful too, with or without an MBA.
Anyway, there are sufficient good reports about his humble man in the internet, so I don’t need to waste my time here. The following is an extract from Business Times and you should be able to learn two things from the article:
1) Updates on Creative Technology and little historical background.
2) This may be a little bit “deep” to many – in the long run, tech stock is unpredictable, cyclical and that Warren Buffett doesn’t has a single tech stock in his top ten investments. I don’t deny that there may be wonderful tech stock but that is only one in a thousands. For as far as I know, the more impressive one are Venture Holdings (SGX), Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq) etc. The rest of them especially the dot.coms, they come and go like tidal waves.
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"The need to engage the market here creatively"
Creative Technology this week completed the delisting of its
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shares from Nasdaq in the United States, which leaves it with only its Singapore Exchange (SGX) listing. The move to quit Nasdaq - which the company has said was driven by administrative and cost reasons - is arguably also symbolic of the company's decline. More pertinently, it also raises the question of how Creative will now communicate with the market going forward.The reasons for leaving Nasdaq are sensible enough. Creative first broached its intention of delisting from Nasdaq in 2003 but suspended its delisting plans in 2004 because it found the process 'very challenging' and 'tedious'.
The company, however, revived the plan in June this year, saying that the delisting will help it reduce administration costs and expenses associated with increasingly burdensome US reporting obligations, which are not justified by the low trading volume of its shares on Nasdaq.
But it does not hide the fact that the weak interest in the shares in the first place tells the story of Creative's fall from being the maker of one of the hottest products in gaming to a company struggling to stay out of the red. Things were certainly quite different when Creative, confidently armed with solid earnings projections, headed for Nasdaq in August 1992 - two years before it met the requirements for a listing on SGX. Creative in the 1990s had a 'killer application' which made it a hot stock: its Sound Blaster soundcards set new benchmarks in the gaming world. It caught the eye of US investors and Creative shares on Nasdaq often set the tone for the trading of the stock on SGX.
Unfortunately, Creative since then has struggled to come up with another winning product or business. Its recent forays into the personal digital entertainment space has seen it embroiled in fierce battles - both in the marketplace and in the courts - with market leader Apple, which makes the i-Pod. While Creative has scored some victories in its legal battles, it has not overcome its business challenges. For its fourth quarter ended June 2007, Creative suffered a net loss of US$19.3 million - 52 per cent larger than the US$12.7 million deficit for the corresponding quarter in the previous year. The Q4 loss was Creative's fifth in the past six quarters. Revenue for Q4 fell 28 per cent to US$165.2 million on the back of a fall in US sales. While Creative managed to end the full year to June 30 with a net profit of US$28.2 million, this was due, ironically, to a US$100 million licensing fee from Apple as a result of the legal wrangle.
The Nasdaq delisting, in a sense, closes the chapter on Creative as a business growth story……..
