Mike Lynch's Estate and Business Partner Owe HP $944M, Court Rules (theguardian.com)
(Tuesday July 22, 2025 @11:22AM (msmash)
from the tough-luck dept.)
- Reference: 0178438262
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/22/140208/mike-lynchs-estate-and-business-partner-owe-hp-944m-court-rules
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/22/mike-lynch-estate-hp-700m-court-autonomy-case
The estate of Mike Lynch, who died a year ago when his superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, and his business partner owe Hewlett-Packard more than $944 million, a court has ruled. From a report:
> The US technology company has been [1]seeking damages of up to $4.55 billion from the estate of the late tycoon, once hailed as the UK's answer to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, over its disastrous takeover of his British software company Autonomy.
>
> Lynch's estate has been estimated to be worth about $674 million and paying its share of the $944 million damages could leave it bankrupt. He and six others, including his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, died last August on a trip celebrating his [2]acquittal on US fraud charges relating to HP's $11 billion takeover of Autonomy in 2011. However, HP [3]won a separate six-year civil fraud case against Lynch and his former finance director Sushovan Hussain in the English high court in 2022, with Mr Justice Hildyard ruling that the US company had been induced into overpaying for the business.
[1] https://slashdot.org/story/24/02/12/168220/hp-seeks-4-billion-in-losses-from-lynch-over-autonomy-fraud
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/06/08/2123202/jury-finds-autonomy-founder-mike-lynch-not-guilty-of-defrauding-hp
[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/06/08/2123202/jury-finds-autonomy-founder-mike-lynch-not-guilty-of-defrauding-hp
> The US technology company has been [1]seeking damages of up to $4.55 billion from the estate of the late tycoon, once hailed as the UK's answer to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, over its disastrous takeover of his British software company Autonomy.
>
> Lynch's estate has been estimated to be worth about $674 million and paying its share of the $944 million damages could leave it bankrupt. He and six others, including his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, died last August on a trip celebrating his [2]acquittal on US fraud charges relating to HP's $11 billion takeover of Autonomy in 2011. However, HP [3]won a separate six-year civil fraud case against Lynch and his former finance director Sushovan Hussain in the English high court in 2022, with Mr Justice Hildyard ruling that the US company had been induced into overpaying for the business.
[1] https://slashdot.org/story/24/02/12/168220/hp-seeks-4-billion-in-losses-from-lynch-over-autonomy-fraud
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/06/08/2123202/jury-finds-autonomy-founder-mike-lynch-not-guilty-of-defrauding-hp
[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/06/08/2123202/jury-finds-autonomy-founder-mike-lynch-not-guilty-of-defrauding-hp
Too alarming, now, to talk about. (Score:3)
by Pseudonymous Powers ( 4097097 )
Forget this dead fraudster. What I want to see is consequences for the people at HP who put this deal together.
Hm... (Score:3)
> Hewlett-Packard carried out only six hours of due diligence on the finances of the British software company Autonomy before buying it for £8bn, in a deal that ended in disaster and a $5bn (£3.8bn) fraud case, according to court documents.
So, you do due diligence, you fire the guy who set up the deal, but you pay nevertheless, then it turns out there was more diligence due or perhaps you didn't manage to manage it so well, and then you sue, so that your failure becomes someone else's problem? Neat.
Re: (Score:3)
HP has made a lot of dumb decisions. Remember the huge fire sale on their WebOS tablets? The OS was actually pretty good but they just didn't know how to sell it. WebOS still runs LG TVs to this day.
Re: (Score:2)
> So, you do due diligence, you fire the guy who set up the deal, but you pay nevertheless, then it turns out there was more diligence due or perhaps you didn't manage to manage it so well, and then you sue, so that your failure becomes someone else's problem? Neat
But you seem to ignore if fraud was involved. While Mike Lynch was cleared of criminal fraud, it appears HP won on civil fraud cases in a [1]UK civil case [yahoo.com]: "He [Justice Hildyard] said that Autonomy had not accurately portrayed its financial position during the purchase, but even if it had, HPE would still have bought the company, but at a reduced price."
[1] https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/hewlett-packard-lost-hundreds-millions-105014015.html