James Ting
James Henry Ting Wei (丁謂, born 1951) is a Shanghai-born Chinese-Canadian former business executive who was once one of Hong Kong's most successful businessmen before being charged with illegal business practices. Early years Ting was born in Shanghai in 1951 and moved to Hong Kong in 1958, where he studied at Rosaryhill School from 1963. Ting moved to Australia and moved to Canada with his wife to study engineering at the University of Toronto. After graduation, Ting founded International Semi Tech Microsystems, a computer assembler, in Toronto in 1981. Building the empire With Semi-Tech Ting expanded beyond computer components to acquire various high-profile businesses like Singer Corporation, Sansui Electric, G.M. Pfaff and Akai. At its peak in 1997, Ting's business empire employed 100,000 people in 120 countries with sales of $5 billion. Before the empire collapsed in 1999, Ting sold them to Grande Holdings, which he founded in 1987. Collapse and downfall These businesses Ting was involved in and improper business practices brought down his empire, tarnished the businesses he led or acquired. Singer made a loss of $238 million in 1997, while Semi-Tech and Akai both went bankrupt in 2000. Ting fled Canada to avoid investigation by Canadian and