John Tu

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John Tu is a Chinese-born American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Kingston Technology.[1][2]

Biography

John Tu was born in Chongqing, China and grew up in Taiwan.[1][2] He studied electrical engineering at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany, then moved to California.[1][2]

In 1982, he co-founded Camintonn with David Sun.[1] in 1986, they sold it for $6 million and founded Kingston Technology.[1] In 1996, they sold 80 percent of the company to Softbank for $1.5 billion, before buying it back in 1999 for $450 million.[1]

He has supported Erin Gruwell's Freedom Writers and the Freedom Writers Foundation.[3] In 2011, he donated $1.2 million to give every first year medical student at UC Irvine an iPad.[1] He plays drums with his band, JT and California Dreamin'.[1] As of September 2011, he is the 400th richest person in the world, and the 130th richest in the United States.[4][1] He is worth US$ 2.8B.[1][4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Forbes profile
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rosie Murray-West (19 July 2003). "Business profile: Yin and yang of memory". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 September 2011. 
  3. ↑ "Kingston Co-Founder Tu Freedom Writers' Benefactor". 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Forbes 400: The Richest People in America


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