Mike Lynch, former CEO of Autonomy.
Hollie Adams | Bloomberg via Getty Images
LONDON — Mike Lynch, one of the U.K.’s most notable tech entrepreneurs and a man that has often been referred to as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” is on the brink of being extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges related to the sale of his firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.
Lynch, 56, sold his software start-up Autonomy to HP in 2011 for $11.7 billion, instantly making him one of the wealthiest and most celebrated tech founders in the U.K.
HP’s offer was 64% higher than Autonomy’s market value. The IT giant’s share price on Wall Street collapsed 20% on the day that the deal was announced, while Autonomy’s soared by over 70%.
One year later, HP announced an $8.8 billion write-down on the company, claiming that “accounting irregularities” led it to pay too much for Autonomy, which sold data analytics software to businesses.
HP’s main accusation is that Autonomy’s execs inflated the company’s revenues by around $700 million and it sued for $5 billion. Lynch counter-sued, leading to a highly complex legal…
