The British “Bill Gates” is missing
after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily
in a sudden storm.
Tech tycoon Mike Lynch
and a small group of his financial and legal advisers
were celebrating a recent legal victory
after Lynch was found not guilty of duping HP
into overpaying for his software firm.
HP had paid $11 billion for Autonomy in 2011,
only to write down $8.8 billion of the purchase price a year later.
Lynch made around $815 million from the sale and always denied fraud charges.
His wife was among 15 people rescued from the yacht,
but his daughter Hannah is among the six still missing.
The same day the yacht sank,
Lynch’s VP of finance and
co-defendant in the trial
died in a freak coincidence
after a car hit him while out running.