Rank #86
John Tu
Net worth $28.7B
Computer hardware · United States
- Born
- Aug 12, 1941
- Age
- 84
- Source
- Computer hardware
- Residence
- Rolling Hills, California
- Citizenship
- United States
- Marital status
- Married
- Children
- 2
- Education
- Bachelor of Arts/Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt
Net worth over time
Biography
- Kingston Technology CEO John Tu runs the firm, which makes storage and memory products, from a cubicle on sales floor.
- With longtime partner David Sun, Tu launched a computer memory business out of a garage and sold it to now defunct PC maker AST a few years later.
- After losing a fortune in the stock market in 1987, the pair started Kingston to manufacture surface-mount memory chips.
- Tu, a Chinese native who grew up in Taiwan, got an engineering degree in Germany and then immigrated to the U.S. in 1971.
- Tu's first jobs in the U.S. included running a one-man gift shop with imported Chinese collectibles and selling commercial real estate.
- Tu met his business partner David Sun, who is 10 years his junior, at a basketball league.
- The company's name comes from one of John Tu's favorite bands, the Kingston Trio.