By Tyler Durden<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An unexpected violent storm, which some EU media outlets described as a ‘tornado,’ sank the British-flagged superyacht “Bayesian” early Monday morning off the coast of Sicily. Local authorities confirmed one dead, and six people are missing, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch<\/a> and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer. Bayesian was carrying 22 people during what appears to be a ‘weather-related’ incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Superyacht BAYESIAN sank off Palermo after a tornado hit early this morning. 15 rescued, 6 missing, including tech tycoon Mike Lynch. Let’s take a step back because the plot thickens here. Just days before the Bayesian sank to the ocean floor, off the coast of Porticello – a small fishing village nestled between Palermo and Cefalu on Sicily’s western shore – Lynch’s co-defendant in the US Autonomy-Hewlett-Packard fraud trial was struck and killed by a car while out for a run near his home in England on Saturday. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s more from The Independent<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen Chamberlain, Autonomy’s former vice president of finance, who worked alongside chief executive Mr Lynch, was killed after being hit by a vehicle while out running on Saturday, his lawyer, Gary Lincenberg said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement, Mr Lincenberg said: “Our dear client and friend Steve Chamberlain was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out running.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “He was a courageous man with unparalleled integrity. We deeply miss him. Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Chamberlain faced similar fraud and conspiracy charges as his former boss, Lynch, for allegedly conspiring to inflate their company Autonomy before it was sold to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On June 6, a federal court jury in San Francisco found Lynch and Chamberlain not guilty following an 11-week criminal trial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Pew Research Center analysis, only 0.4% of federal criminal cases in 2022 ended in acquittal, which means the two executives were extremely lucky with the positive outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, not so much in the last several days, with Chamberlain killed by a vehicle while on a jog and Lynch missing after a tornado hit the superyacht he was on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also on the vessel was Bloomer from Morgan Stanley, who has been confirmed missing by Italian authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s more from Bloomberg about Bloomer… <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bloomer, 70, has worked in the finance industry for five decades. He’s been chairman of Morgan Stanley’s European business since 2018, and was named to lead British insurer Hiscox Ltd.’s board last year. He is a friend of Lynch and was a witness for the defense in the long-running legal battle with Hewlett Packard.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The real mystery is how Lynch and Chamberlain went from being the luckiest men\u2014acquitted in a federal criminal fraud case\u2014to the unlikeliest in separate, unexpected incidents just days apart. <\/p>\n\n\n https:\/\/www.cio.com\/article\/304397\/the-hp-autonomy-lawsuit-timeline-of-an-ma-disaster.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jun 07, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the turn of the century, Autonomy Corporation was one of the darlings of the UK technology industry, specializing in knowledge management and enterprise search. It went on an acquisition spree in the early 2000s, driving up its revenue, before being swallowed itself by Hewlett-Packard in 2011, in a deal that valued it at over $10 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this rags-to-riches tale doesn\u2019t have a happy ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the HP acquisition of Autonomy probably ranks among the most notorious failed mergers and acquisitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No sooner had the acquisition closed than revenue began to flag, prompting an internal investigation in which HP uncovered signs of past creative accounting at Autonomy. Rather than selling software to customers, HP said, Autonomy had been selling them hardware at a loss, then booking the sales as software licensing revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That discovery forced HP to write down the value of Autonomy by more than $5 billion, triggering a wave of shareholder lawsuits. HP in turn sued (then former) Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch in a UK court, and the U.S. Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court found in favor of HP in the UK, where lawyers are still arguing about damages, but the US court has just found Lynch not guilty<\/a> of the DOJ\u2019s wire fraud charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s how it played out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1990:<\/strong> Mike Lynch, an academic in Cambridge, England, borrows\u2014or so the legend goes\u2014\u00a32,000 to start Cambridge Neurodynamics, going on to develop the software that would later give rise to Autonomy. However, Companies House, the UK register of commerce, has no record of such a company, and it\u2019s not until 1997 that Lynch creates another company, called simply Neurodynamics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1996:<\/strong> Lynch sets up Autonomy Corporation in the UK. Its Agentware internet search tools are used by enterprises including Barclays Bank and Unilever and sold as shrink-wrapped software through retail outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 1998:<\/strong> Autonomy\u2019s IPO on EASDAQ values the company at $165 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n September 2003:<\/strong> Autonomy completes its purchase of video management software vendor Virage and rebuilds the company\u2019s software on its own IDOL (Intelligent Data Operating Layer) unstructured data management platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n March 2004:<\/strong> Autonomy acquires NativeMinds and Cardiff Software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n November 2005:<\/strong> Autonomy agrees to buy search technology developer Verity for $500 milllion, its third acquisition of the year after NCorp (in February) and etalk (in June).<\/p>\n\n\n\n May 2007:<\/strong> Autonomy spins off its Blinkx consumer software unit in an IPO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 2007: <\/strong>Autonomy pays $375 million for content archiving and electronic discovery specialist Zantaz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n October 2007:<\/strong> Autonomy acquires data management specialist Meridio for \u00a320 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n January 2009: <\/strong>Autonomy buys enterprise content management vendor Interwoven for $775 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n June 2010: <\/strong>Autonomy acquires CA Technologies\u2019 information governance business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n September 2010:<\/strong> Ex-SAP CEO L\u00e9o Apotheker is named CEO of HP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n March 2010:<\/strong> Apotheker says he wants to transform HP from a hardware producer to a software and services provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May 2011:<\/strong> Autonomy sneaks in one last acquisition, of online backup service Iron Mountain Digital, for $380 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 2011:<\/strong> Apotheker and Lynch reach a deal to sell Autonomy to HP, and HP begins its due-diligence examination of Autonomy\u2019s finances. Lynch\u2019s lawyers will later claim that HP executives spent just six hours in conference calls with his team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n August 2011:<\/strong> HP agrees to acquire Autonomy<\/a> for $42.11 per share, a premium of around 60% over the market price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n September 2011:<\/strong> HP fires Apotheker, naming Meg Whitman CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n October 2011:<\/strong> HP buys 87.34% of Autonomy for \u00a35.44 billion, valuing the company at $10.3 billion at 2011 exchange rates\u2014although later reports will put the price as high as \u00a38.7 billion or $11.7 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May 2012:<\/strong> A senior member of HP\u2019s Autonomy unit raises concerns about Autonomy\u2019s accounting practices. Whitman hires PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate. Meanwhile, Whitman announces the lay-off of 27,000 HP workers to cut costs. Lynch is among them, for \u201cfailure to meet agreed performance goals, including financial metrics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n November 2012:<\/strong> HP takes an $8.8 billion impairment charge, linking more than $5 billion of it to serious accounting improprieties, misrepresentation, and disclosure failures at Autonomy discovered by an internal investigation by HP and forensic review of Autonomy\u2019s accounting practices prior to its acquisition. HP alleges that the misrepresentations included selling low-end hardware at a loss and recording the transactions\u2014said to account for up to 15% of Autonomy\u2019s total revenue\u2014as licenses for Autonomy\u2019s IDOL software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-13.png\")
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MarineTraffic data shows its last signal received via AIS at 2:06 UTC before sinking.
Read more on the story: https:\/\/t.co\/WOL75loP7I<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/vxzVraSrIF<\/a> \u2014 MarineTraffic (@MarineTraffic) August 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/inline-images\/2024-08-20_08-16-19.png?itok=Hw1bquLv\")
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The HP-Autonomy lawsuit: Timeline of an M&A disaster<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
When Hewlett Packard bought knowledge management software firm Autonomy, it didn\u2019t realize it was buying into a multibillion accounting cover-up. Shareholders sued HP, and HP sued Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch. Here\u2019s how it played out over the decades.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The 1990s: Founding myth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The 2000s: Spending spree<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The 2010s: Autonomy\u2019s unravelling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n