Here’s what to find out about Mike Lynch, the tech tycoon lacking within the Sicily yacht catastrophe

Mike Lynch, as soon as hailed as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” is now among the many six folks lacking after his luxurious yacht sank in a violent storm off the coast of Sicily. At the time of the catastrophe, Lynch had been attempting to shake greater than a decade of authorized entanglements that resulted in June when he was cleared of fraud and conspiracy prices. 

Lynch, 59, rose to prominence within the late Nineties with the event of his software program firm, Autonomy, which helped companies shortly discover info buried in e mail and different digital paperwork. In 2011, Lynch bought the enterprise to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion, giving him a $800 million payday and cementing him as one of many U.Okay.’s richest folks. 

But the acquisition was later known as one of many “most infamous failed mergers and acquisitions” after HP found alleged accounting points, resulting in Lynch’s firing by HP’s then-CEO, Meg Whitman. HP claimed that Autonomy had used accounting improprieties to bolster its underlying financials forward of the acquisition, prices that Lynch steadfastly denied. 

The case stretched right into a 12-year authorized combat that resulted in June 2024 when a federal court docket jury in San Francisco delivered not-guilty verdicts.

“I’m wanting ahead to returning to the U.Okay. and getting again to what I really like most — my household and innovating in my area,” Lynch mentioned in an announcement after the decision.

Here’s what to find out about Lynch. 

What firm did Mike Lynch begin?

Lynch, who earned a PhD in mathematical computing from the U.Okay.’s Cambridge University, first cofounded an organization known as Cambridge Neurodynamics, primarily based on the cofounders’ work with sample recognition. The agency used the tech to match fingerprints and automotive license plates, in accordance with a 1997 article in The Guardian.

From there, Lynch cofounded Autonomy in 1996, which relied on a statistical mannequin known as Bayesian inference, named after a theorem developed by the 18th century statistician Thomas Bayes. (Lynch’s luxurious yacht was christened the “Bayesian.”)

The firm tapped into the rising want of companies to kind by way of and discover info throughout the huge reams of knowledge created by the rising use of computer systems and digital paperwork.

Autonomy’s regular development throughout its first decade resulted in Lynch being awarded one of many U.K’s highest honors, the Office of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2006.

Lynch advised The Guardian in 1997 that folks did not fairly imagine {that a} rising tech enterprise may emerge from the U.Okay. 

“I’ve truly heard the remark, ‘England, software program? I believed you made bone china,'” he advised the newspaper. 

What occurred after Autonomy’s acquisition by HP?

At first, HP celebrated the acquisition as an enormous coup that might propel the Palo Alto, California, firm down a promising new path, however then shortly got here to remorse it underneath then-CEO Meg Whitman.

HP claimed it discovered accounting irregularities, and the corporate ended up recognizing $8.8 billion in losses within the Autonomy deal. Whitman ultimately fired Lynch in 2012, whereas additionally shedding 1000’s of employees as HP’s fortunes sagged. 

Throughout the previous 12 years, Lynch rejected the allegations. He advised the Wall Street Journal in 2012 that he was “ambushed” by the claims, which he described as “utterly and totally mistaken.”

What occurred with Mike Lynch’s authorized case?

Lynch maintained his innocence whereas testifying earlier this 12 months earlier than a jury throughout a 2 1/2 month trial in San Francisco. U.S. Justice Department prosecutors known as greater than 30 witnesses in an try and show allegations that Lynch engaged in accounting duplicity that bilked billions of {dollars} from HP.

The jury, as famous above, delivered not-guilty verdicts in June, vindicating Lynch, who pledged to return to the U.Okay. and to seek out new methods to innovate. 

Who is Mike Lynch’s spouse? 

Mike Lynch is married to Angela Bacares, who is without doubt one of the folks rescued from the Mediterranean after the yacht sank. Lynch and Barares have two daughters. One of them, Hannah, 18, is among the many lacking, in accordance with the BBC. 

Bacares, 57, owns shares in Darktrace, a British cybersecurity firm she and Lynch co-founded, the Sun famous. She sat within the entrance row of the courtroom throughout her husband’s trial, however typically has most well-liked to remain out of the general public eye, the Times of London reported in July.

“We made the choice that Angela wouldn’t be concerned within the case. She stayed utterly separate. Her focus was the household and youngsters,” Lynch advised the Times final month.

— With reporting by the Associated Press.