[HN Gopher] Mike Lynch cleared in Autonomy fraud trial
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Mike Lynch cleared in Autonomy fraud trial
Author : edent
Score : 40 points
Date : 2024-06-06 20:08 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theregister.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theregister.com)
| throwaway_20357 wrote:
| The original KPMG due diligence is still online:
| https://regmedia.co.uk/2019/06/14/kpmg_due_diligence_report_...
| tiffanyh wrote:
| NOT to be confused with the founder of TinyPilot (Michael Lynch),
| who sold his company last week.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40512500
| runnr_az wrote:
| That's a weird end to a crazy story. 2.5 month trial, completely
| acquitted. What's the takeaway here? Did HP make some horrible
| mistake and totally mismanage the acquisition as alleged?
| 0xADADA wrote:
| yes, Meg Whitman
| ChuckMcM wrote:
| Exactly, the takeaway here is that Meg Whitman had no
| business running HP. That said I admit I am biased against
| her because of the really really ill informed way she decided
| important technical issues.
| x0x0 wrote:
| Just in case people don't know how stupid Meg is, she (1)
| acquired Skype; (2) did not acquire Skype's p2p tech; (3)
| fucked the Skype founders on an earn out; (4) was
| apparently shocked when said founders declined to renew the
| licensing deal for the p2p tech.
|
| What business ebay, an auctions company, had owning Skype
| was never explained.
|
| Discussion has mostly disappeared from the internet, but
| you can still find traces eg
| https://techcrunch.com/2009/07/31/ebay-in-litigation-with-
| sk...
| ZiiS wrote:
| Apotheker had already agreed the deal.
| jgalt212 wrote:
| It was her Bay of Pigs. Literally
| jldugger wrote:
| Did Meg Whitman make that purchase, or was it the CEO at the
| time, Leo Apotheker?
| throwaway_20357 wrote:
| Here is the timeline: https://www.cio.com/article/304397/the-
| hp-autonomy-lawsuit-t...
|
| Lynch was convicted in a civil case in the UK in 2022 but the
| damages have still not been announced yet.
| tempusalaria wrote:
| HP did limited due diligence due to their incompetence but
| there was definitely significant fraud at Autonomy.
| rimeice wrote:
| Definitely a win for the UK tech scene and US/UK tech
| collaboration/M&A in general. Having met Mike and pitched to him
| on several occasions, it's clear he's a huge asset to the AI
| startup ecosystem here in the UK. Certainly feels like justice
| has been done in one of the worlds most epic cases of buyer
| remorse.
| WheatMillington wrote:
| I mean.... I'm not sure how/why he was "cleared" considering
| it's well established the Autonomy engaged in significant
| accounting fraud to inflate its revenues. The CFO is still in
| prison over this.
| nmstoker wrote:
| Not according to the article which says Hussain was released
| in January, 2024
| WheatMillington wrote:
| I stand corrected.
| rimeice wrote:
| Definitely a win for the UK tech scene and US/UK tech
| collaboration/M&A in general. Having met Mike on several
| occasions, it's clear he's a huge asset to the AI startup
| ecosystem here in the UK. Certainly feels like justice has been
| served in one of the world's most epic cases of buyer remorse. HP
| have managed to appear spectacularly hapless from this whole
| decade+ episode and simultaneously trash their reputation as a
| buyer. Who on earth would want to risk selling their business to
| HP now.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| Possibly the Humane folks?
|
| I hear they want to sell for the bargain price of $1Bn.
| throwup238 wrote:
| _> Years of legal wrangling followed. HP shareholders sued in
| 2012. In 2015, HP sued Lynch and Sushovan Hussain, former
| Autonomy CFO, in the High Court of England and Wales. Lynch
| responded by filing a $150 million countersuit for defamation._
|
| Now that he's been found not guilty, does that strengthen his
| defamation claim? Between an extradition and how much his name
| has been dragged through the mud, that's quite a lot of damage.
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