Estate 'Britain's Bill Gates' Ordered To Pay $1.8bn As Assets Face Wipe Out
The estate of late British tech tycoon Mike Lynch has been ordered to pay $1.8 billion (£920 million), a ruling that threatens the total liquidation of his assets following two years after he died in 2023 due to an undisclosed heart condition and was found guilty by Mr Justice Hill for failing to disclose information about health risks associated with HP's software products, according to reports from March.
Key Points
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1The High Court has ruled that Mike Lynch's estate must compensate Hewlett-Packard (HP) £920 million ($1.8 billion - $1.24bn depending on source conversion timing).
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2Judge Mr Justice Hildyard denied the estate permission to appeal against previous judgments regarding HP.
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3The ruling relates to compensation, costs and interest for an acquisition of Lynch's Cambridge-based company following his death in a superyacht disaster.
Developments
The High Court has ruled that Mike Lynch's estate must pay Hewlett-Packard an estimated £920m in damages and interest for fraud regarding Autonomy. The judge refused permission to appeal this decision or earlier judgments related to the 2017 acquisition case, despite claims by HP of financial losses from inflated revenue figures reported before its purchase.
The High Court has ordered Mike Lynch's estate, valued at approximately £500 million but estimated worth only around $1.24 billion after a 98% write-down by HP on his Autonomy software firm two years ago to pay damages of up to nine times that amount following the company finding him and former CFO Sushovan Hussain liable for misleading valuations in their £560 million takeover deal, leading experts to conclude it will be wiped out.
Mike Lynch's estate has been ordered to pay Hewlett Packard £920 million ($1.8 billion) for fraudulently inflating the value of Autonomy during its 2011 sale, a judgment that would bankrupt his family following their deaths on superyacht in August 2024 after Lynch had previously defeated US criminal charges related to this deal but lost an English civil lawsuit filed by HP.