A court in London decided that the widow must pay approximately EUR 1 billion in compensation to the American company Hewlett-Packard from the estate of the deceased entrepreneur.
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A long-standing dispute over the sale of the company
Mike Lynch, nicknamed “the English Bill Gates”, in 2011, he sold his company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard for USD 11.7 billion. However, the American company accused him of artificially inflating the value of the company and in 2015 took the case to court.
After years of trials, a London court earlier awarded approx. 700 million pounds in compensation and added interest, which increased the amount to approx. 1 billion euros.
According to the media the verdict could virtually exhaust Lynch's entire fortune.
The tragic death of a British billionaire
Lynch did not live to see the end of the case. In August 2024, he died along with his 18-year-old daughter when his luxury yacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm.
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There were seven people on board. Angela Bacares survived the crash. Preliminary findings indicate that strong winds led to the loss of stability of the vessel, but the exact causes of the accident are still under investigation.
Significantly, just before the tragedy, Lynch was celebrating his acquittal by a San Francisco court in a criminal case on the same charges. In the USA, he faced up to 25 years in prison.
At the same time, civil proceedings were underway in Great Britain, which resulted in huge compensation.
Another lawsuit and threat of bankruptcy
It is estimated that Lynch's fortune is worth approximately £500 million (approximately EUR 577 million), which means that the awarded compensation may cover him completely.
Additionally, the widow faces another trial. The Italian company The Italian Sea Group sued her for 456 million euros. This concerns losses related to the sinking of the yacht.
The case concerns, among others, liability for the disaster – the company claims that the problem was not in the design of the unit, but in its use.
