John Tu
{{Short description|American billionaire}}
{{Infobox person
| name = John Tu
| image =
| caption =
| native_name = 杜紀川
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1941|08|12}}
| birth_place = Chongqing, China
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| known_for = Co-founder of Kingston Technology
| alma_mater = Technical University of Darmstadt
| occupation = Businessman
| nationality = American
| children = 2
| parents =
}}
John Tu ({{zh|t=杜紀川|p=Dù Jìchuān|w=Tu Chi-ch'uan}}; born August 12, 1941) is a Taiwanese-American billionaire businessman and philanthropist.{{cite web|url=http://myhero.com/hero.asp?hero=john_tu_07|title=The My Hero Project - John Tu|publisher=}} He is the co-founder of Kingston Technology.{{cite news |title=Business profile: Yin and yang of memory |author=Rosie Murray-West |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2858025/Business-profile-Yin-and-yang-of-memory.html|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=19 July 2003 |accessdate=22 September 2011}}
Early life and education
John Tu was born in Chongqing, China in 1941. He was the son of an official in China's Nationalist government. He moved to Shanghai with his parents in 1945, before going to Taiwan two years later as the Chinese Civil War neared the coast.{{Cite web|url=https://fortune.com/2013/12/05/kingston-technology-and-the-power-of-memory/|title=Kingston Technology and the power of memory|website=Fortune|language=en|access-date=2019-07-27}}
Tu moved in 1960 to West Germany to study electrical engineering, and was educated at a language school in Munich. In Germany at that time, a two-year apprenticeship was required for everyone, so he worked at a shipbuilding factory. After working there for two years, he studied electrical engineering at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany and graduated in 1970. He then went to work for Motorola in Wiesbaden, Germany. In 1971 he moved to California.
Career
In 1982, he co-founded Camintonn with David Sun. In 1986, they sold it for $6 million. They then lost most their money in the 1987 stock market crash and founded Kingston Technology later that same year.{{cite web |title=Forbes profile: John Tu |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/john-tu/ |website=Forbes |accessdate=8 January 2020}} In 1996, they sold 80 percent of the company to Softbank for $1.5 billion, before buying it back in 1999 for $450 million.{{cite web|url=http://moneyinc.com/david-sun-and-john-tu/|title=The Billionaires Who Make Money Every Time You Buy a Phone|date=6 May 2016|publisher=}}
Philanthropy
In 2021 Tu made a donation to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation that enabled the Pulitzer Prize-winning Storm Lake (Iowa) Times to buy its local competition and a weekly in an adjoining county.{{Cite web|url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/courtney-crowder/2022/04/04/art-cullen-local-newspapers-purchased-help-billionaire-storm-lake-iowa-journalism-pulitzer-prize/7233666001/|title=Des Moines Register|website=The Des Moines Register}} He has supported Erin Gruwell's Freedom Writers and the Freedom Writers Foundation.{{cite web|url=http://www.kingston.com/asia/press/2007/corporate/01b.asp|title=Kingston Co-Founder Tu Freedom Writers' Benefactor|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101184715/http://www.kingston.com/asia/press/2007/corporate/01b.asp|archivedate=2008-11-01}} In 2011, he donated $1.2 million to give every first year medical student at UC Irvine an iPad.{{cite web|url=https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/fundraising-los-angeles-grants/john-and-mary-tu-foundation-los-angeles-grants.html|title=John and Mary Tu Foundation: Los Angeles Grants|date=23 August 2022 |publisher=}}{{cite web|url=https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/guide-to-individual-donors/john-tu.html|title=John Tu|date=5 November 2021 |publisher=}}
Personal life
References
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Category:American billionaires
Category:American computer businesspeople
Category:American electrical engineers
Category:American philanthropists
Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States
Category:Businesspeople from California
Category:People from Rolling Hills, California
Category:Businesspeople from Chongqing
Category:Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni
Category:Chinese expatriates in Germany
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