Hewlett Packard will continue civil action against Mike Lynch’s estate

Hewlett Packard Enterprise will continue its $4 billion civil litigation case against the estate of Mike Lynch, with its chief executive insisting that pursuing legal action against the entrepreneur’s estate is in the “best interest of shareholders”.
Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, were among seven people killed when his yacht sank off the coast of Sicily last month. He was survived by his wife Angela Bacares, 57, and older daughter Esme, 21.
Those on the yacht, called Bayesian, were celebrating Lynch’s recent acquittal from fraud charges in the United States over Hewlett-Packard’s $11.7 billion acquisition of Autonomy, the software company that he had founded.
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Antonio Neri, the chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said the acquittal and Lynch’s death had not changed the company’s pursuit of civil fraud damages worth up to $4 billion. The damages, which are tied to a lawsuit originally filed in Britain, represented the last legal battle Lynch faced over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.
“Obviously my job as a representative of shareholders is to make the difficult decisions,” Neri said in an interview with the Financial Times, which reported that he had not sought investors’ input.
“These are difficult decisions. But in the end, we are making decisions in the best interest of shareholders. Obviously, what we saw three weeks ago is a sad story. The loss of so many lives, including Dr Lynch. And obviously our thoughts are with them.
“But the reality of what happened does not change what happened in the past decade or so, where we believe wrongdoing was done, and therefore we have to see through the process with the UK judge completing his proceedings.”
Hewlett-Packard bought Autonomy in 2011, but the company sued Lynch after it took an $8.8 billion writedown on the acquisition. It accused the British technology entrepreneur of falsely inflating revenues of the business.
In 2015 Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which was spun out of Hewlett-Packard that year, sued Lynch and Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy’s former chief financial officer, in London, seeking £5 billion in damages. Both men denied the allegations.
In 2022 the judge ruled mostly in Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s favour and in February this year lawyers on both sides argued over the amount of potential damages due. Judge Robert Hildyard, who ruled over the case, is expected to issue a decision in the coming months.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has said previously: “An English High Court judge ruled that HPE had substantially succeeded in its civil fraud claims against Dr Lynch and Mr Hussain. A damages hearing was held in February 2024 and the judge’s decision regarding damages … will arrive in due course. It is HPE’s intention to follow the proceedings through to their conclusion.”
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Neri told the Financial Times: “Remember that [the judge] already ruled that there was wrongdoing and it is now about what damages he will award after he completes his proceedings. So for us it is very normal to see it through.” He added that once the judge ruled on damages, “we will gather and understand what comes next”.
He said that although Lynch and his co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain, who died days before Lynch after being hit by a car while out running, had been acquitted in America, it did not mean that the British civil case was in question. “They are two different cases, independent cases,” Neri said. “A person [Hussain] was already convicted and that basically confirms that wrongdoing was done.”
The Lynch family and Hewlett Packard Enterprise were approached for comment.