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During the late 1960s, Akai adopted Tandberg's cross-field recording technologies (using an extra tape head) to enhance high frequency recording and switched to the increasingly reliable Glass and crystal (X'tal) (GX) ferrite heads a few years later. Many Akai products were sold under the name Roberts in the US, as well as A&D in Japan (from 1987 after a partnership with Mitsubishi Electric), Tensai and Transonic Strato in Western Europe. In a separate lawsuit, a former E&Y partner, Christopher Ho, made a "substantial payment" to Akai creditors in his role as chairman of Grande Holdings. Ting was imprisoned for false accounting in 2005, and E&Y paid $200m to settle the negligence case out of court in September 2009.
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The liquidators claimed that Ting had stolen over US$800m from the company with the assistance of accountants Ernst & Young who had tampered with audit documents going back to 1994. It emerged that ownership of Akai Holdings had somehow passed in 1999 to Grande Holdings, a company founded by Akai's chairman James Ting. The company filed for insolvency in November 2000, owing creditors US$1.1B. At its peak in the late 1990s, Akai Holdings employed 100,000 workers and had annual sales of HK$40 billion (US$5.2 billion). The company's business eventually became discombobulated and it left the audio industry in 1991.
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( 赤井電機株式会社, Akai Denki Kabushiki Gaisha), a Japanese manufacturer in 1929 or 1946. inMusic Brands in the United States took over Akai's brand, starting the ‘Akai Professional’ label, that distributes high-end audio electronics products.Īkai was founded by Masukichi Akai and his son, Saburo Akai (who died in 1973 ) as Akai Electric Company Ltd. Grande Holdings in Hong Kong purchased the Akai brand, and now distributes various electronic products such as LED TV, washing machines, clothes dryers, air conditioners and smart phones, through collaborations with other electronics companies bearing relevant expertise. It was founded as Akai Electric Company Ltd in Tokyo, Japan, in 1946. JSTOR ( May 2007) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īs Akai Electric Company Ltd, Tokyo, JapanĪkai ( Japanese: 赤井, pronounced ) is a Hong Kong manufacturer of consumer electronics.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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