The Day Creative Technology Ltd sued Apple Inc
In 2006, Singapore-based Creative Technology Ltd sued Apple Inc for patent infringement over a menu interface for an MP3 player. It was an epic corporate story of David versus Goliath and pitted Singapore entrepreneur, Sim Wong Hoo squarely against the late Steve Jobs.
But the outcome was beyond what most people had expected. In fact, Apple had actually agreed to pay Creative Technology Ltd a massive USD100 million to settle the suit.
The battle against Apple marked a turning point for Creative Technology, which at that point of time, had been searching for another holy grail to replace its blockbuster SoundBlaster audio systems. More than a decade has gone since the legal dispute, but Creative Technology is no longer the force it used to be. Although it has won the corporate battle, the business had declined to an almost unbelievable level.
Sales for the fiscal year 2005 was at a peak of USD 1.2 billion but by fiscal 2016, the sales amounted to only a paltry of USD 84.5 million. That was a massive decline by any standard and something must [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]
Read my other article on Creative Technology:
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Although we have never met, Sim Wong Hoo and I attended the same secondary school in the 1970s. Indeed, wish him the success in his future endeavours.
Hi Jeffrery,
So cool. Yes, lets all wish Sim Wong Hoo all the best and hope he can achieve a turnaround for Creative Technology like what Ron Sim did for Osim.
Regards,
Gerald
https://www.sgwealthbuilder.com
At the current price, Creative trades at ~0.93x P/B. The group has proposed a dividend of $0.05, taking its full year pay-out to $0.15, which represents a yield of 6.7%.
Hi Regina,
Thank you for pointing. As indicated in my article, I also think Creative Technology is currently undervalued.
But with the company making losses, I would not be entering this counter until I see signs of turnaround by the management.
Regards,
Gerald
https://www.sgwealthbuilder.com
I think Creative make good affordable products. I have 2 headphones, desktop speakers and 2 earpieces from them. Sad that many young Singaporeans today may not have heard of them. Their new push into high end speaker systems may be worth watching.
Hi K,
Thanks for the comments. Indeed, as audio specialist, Creative Technologies make very good and affordable products. Hopefully they can come out with another blockbuster audio product.
Regards,
Gerald
https://www.sgwealthbuilder.com