The estate of Mike Lynch, a British technology executive who died when his yacht sank off the Italian coast last summer, and his former business partner owe Hewlett Packard Enterprise more than 700 million pounds ($945 million) over the 2011 sale of his company to Hewlett-Packard, a London judge ruled on Tuesday.
The decision, which had been delayed several months following Mr. Lynch's death, marks a significant development in the legal dispute surrounding Autonomy, the software company he sold to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion. Hewlett-Packard later accused Mr. Lynch and others of fraudulently inflating the company's value.
The awarded amount is considerably less than the $4 billion sought by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a successor to Hewlett-Packard. Presiding judge Robert Hildyard stated, “I consider that HP’s claim was always substantially exaggerated.”
However, the judgment exceeds the current value of the Lynch estate, which was recently appraised at approximately £473 million. The estate is responsible for a majority of the damages owed to Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
This ruling adds another chapter to Mr. Lynch’s narrative. He was once celebrated as Britain’s answer to Bill Gates after the Autonomy sale, but shortly thereafter, Hewlett-Packard accused top executives, including Mr. Lynch, of misrepresenting the business's condition, resulting in an $8.8 billion write-down of Autonomy's value.
In 2015, Hewlett-Packard accused Mr. Lynch and the company’s former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, of fraud and initiated legal proceedings in a London court. Both men denied the allegations.
In 2022, Mr. Lynch and Mr. Hussain were found liable after what Judge Hildyard described as “amongst the longest and most complex in English legal history.” Mr. Hussain was convicted in 2018 of a criminal fraud charge related to the Autonomy acquisition, while Mr. Lynch was acquitted last year.
Following his acquittal, Mr. Lynch invited friends and associates on a boating trip. Tragically, he and six others, including his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, and a longtime lawyer, Christopher J. Morvillo, died on August 19 when the yacht capsized in severe weather off the coast of Sicily. Fifteen passengers and crew members survived, including Mr. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares.
In a statement on Tuesday, Hewlett Packard Enterprise expressed satisfaction with the ruling, stating, “We are pleased that this decision brings us a step closer to the resolution of this dispute.”
A spokeswoman for the Lynch estate released a statement attributed to Mr. Lynch before his death, which noted that the High Court ruling indicated HP’s original $5 billion damages claim was “not just a wild overstatement—misleading shareholders—but it was off the mark by 80 percent.”
Jeremy Sandelson, the court-appointed administrator of the Lynch estate, stated that he would consider further actions, including the possibility of appealing both the damages and the original finding of liability against the Autonomy founder. Mr. Lynch had been expected to appeal both matters prior to his death.