Who is Mike Lynch, the tech entrepreneur among the missing after a superyacht sank?
Mike Lynch, the 59-year-old British tech investor, is among those missing after a luxury yacht he was on was hit by a tornado and sank off the coast of Sicily, Italy early Monday.
Mike Lynch, British Tech Investor, Missing After Yacht Sinks in Tornado
Mike Lynch, a prominent British tech investor known for co-founding Autonomy, is among those missing after a tornado struck a luxury yacht he was on, causing it to sink off the coast of Sicily, Italy, early Monday.
Lynch, 59, amassed a substantial fortune from his involvement in Autonomy, a tech company sold to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11 billion in 2011. An attorney for Lynch recently revealed his estimated net worth to be around $450 million.
The Autonomy sale was considered a major milestone in the British tech scene at the time, but it quickly turned sour. Within a year of the acquisition, HP wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8 billion, citing alleged accounting irregularities. The acquisition, meant to bolster HP's software business, became entangled in legal disputes, culminating in a fraud trial.
Prosecutors accused Lynch and former Autonomy finance executive Stephen Chamberlain of manipulating Autonomy's revenue figures before the sale to HP. In June, Lynch was acquitted of all charges – one count of conspiracy and 14 counts of wire fraud – in a San Francisco court. The verdict came as a relief for Lynch, who described the potential consequences of a guilty verdict as "the end of life as I have known it."
Autonomy, founded in 1996, rose to prominence as Britain's largest software company and a member of the FTSE 100 index. Lynch garnered recognition for his contributions to the tech industry, earning praise from academics and scientists, and even serving as an advisor to the British government on technology and innovation.
The yacht Lynch was on, the Bayesian, is linked to his wife, Angela Bacares, who was among those rescued. Maritime information service Equasis records indicate that the 56-meter yacht is owned by Revtom Limited, an Isle of Man-registered company owned by his wife.
Fifteen other individuals were rescued from the scene. One child was airlifted to a children's hospital in Palermo, and eight people were hospitalized in total. The Coast Guard confirmed that one body was found on the yacht's hull.
Mike Lynch, a prominent British tech investor known for co-founding Autonomy, is among those missing after a tornado struck a luxury yacht he was on, causing it to sink off the coast of Sicily, Italy, early Monday.
Lynch, 59, amassed a substantial fortune from his involvement in Autonomy, a tech company sold to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11 billion in 2011. An attorney for Lynch recently revealed his estimated net worth to be around $450 million.
The Autonomy sale was considered a major milestone in the British tech scene at the time, but it quickly turned sour. Within a year of the acquisition, HP wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8 billion, citing alleged accounting irregularities. The acquisition, meant to bolster HP's software business, became entangled in legal disputes, culminating in a fraud trial.
Prosecutors accused Lynch and former Autonomy finance executive Stephen Chamberlain of manipulating Autonomy's revenue figures before the sale to HP. In June, Lynch was acquitted of all charges – one count of conspiracy and 14 counts of wire fraud – in a San Francisco court. The verdict came as a relief for Lynch, who described the potential consequences of a guilty verdict as "the end of life as I have known it."
Autonomy, founded in 1996, rose to prominence as Britain's largest software company and a member of the FTSE 100 index. Lynch garnered recognition for his contributions to the tech industry, earning praise from academics and scientists, and even serving as an advisor to the British government on technology and innovation.
The yacht Lynch was on, the Bayesian, is linked to his wife, Angela Bacares, who was among those rescued. Maritime information service Equasis records indicate that the 56-meter yacht is owned by Revtom Limited, an Isle of Man-registered company owned by his wife.
Fifteen other individuals were rescued from the scene. One child was airlifted to a children's hospital in Palermo, and eight people were hospitalized in total. The Coast Guard confirmed that one body was found on the yacht's hull.