The estate of the late British tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been ordered to pay £920m to Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) by London's High Court, two years after his death in a superyacht disaster. The ruling relates to the 2011 takeover of Lynch's software firm Autonomy by Hewlett-Packard (HP), which later split into HP and HPE.
The court found that Lynch duped HP into paying $11bn (£8.2bn) for Autonomy, leading to a $8.8bn write-down within a year. The £920m figure includes £700m in compensation, plus costs and interest, following a 2022 UK legal ruling. Lynch's estate, estimated at £500m, may be bankrupted by the award.
Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, and five others died in August 2024 during a celebratory trip after his acquittal on US fraud charges related to the same takeover. HP had accused Lynch and Autonomy's former CFO Sushovan Hussain of inflating the firm's value.
HPE welcomed the decision, stating it brings resolution closer. However, the Lynch family expressed disappointment, noting the court described HP's $5bn damages claim as 'without foundation' and 'objectionable'. They plan to apply directly to the Court of Appeal, arguing that Autonomy's damage resulted from HP's own actions.
