Mike Lynch’s Estate and Former CFO Ordered to Pay Over £700m to HP Enterprise, UK Court Rules
The estate of late tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his former business partner, Sushovan Hussain, have been ordered to pay more than £700 million to Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) by the UK High Court, following a years-long legal battle over the controversial sale of software firm Autonomy.
The judgment, delivered on Tuesday, concluded that HPE significantly overpaid for Autonomy when it acquired the company for $11.1 billion (£7.1 billion) in 2011. The court found that Lynch and Hussain had misrepresented Autonomy’s financial health, leading HPE to believe the company was worth more than it actually was.
The ruling stated that the price paid “exceeded what would have been agreed had Autonomy’s true financial position been correctly presented.”
The verdict had been delayed due to the unexpected death of Mr Lynch in August 2024, when the billionaire and his teenage daughter, Hannah, were among seven people who lost their lives after his yacht, the Bayesian, capsized in a storm off the coast of Sicily.
In court, the presiding judge offered his condolences, saying he was “saddened by the devastating events” and expressed admiration for Mr Lynch despite ruling against him.
A spokesperson for HPE welcomed the ruling, calling it a “significant step towards resolution” and said the company now looked forward to a follow-up hearing to determine the final amount in damages.
The case stems from one of the most high-profile tech deals in British history. Just over a year after the 2011 acquisition, HPE wrote down Autonomy’s value by $8.8 billion, citing “serious accounting improprieties” and launching a legal battle that spanned more than a decade across both UK and US courts.
Mr Lynch, who made approximately £500 million from the sale, consistently denied wrongdoing. He maintained that HPE mishandled the integration and “destroyed” the business, not that Autonomy was misrepresented.
While Hussain was convicted of fraud in the U.S. in 2018 and sentenced to five years in prison, Mr Lynch was extradited to the U.S. in 2023 to face similar charges. He was ultimately acquitted of all criminal allegations in 2024, just months before his death.
Before his passing, Lynch had issued a statement calling HPE’s damages claim of up to $5 billion a “wild overstatement.” Though the UK court had earlier agreed that HPE had “substantially succeeded” in its civil claim, the final amount awarded was expected to be significantly lower.
The ruling closes a major chapter in a case that has cast a long shadow over British tech and cross-border corporate mergers.
