The Curious Case of Mike Lynch: The Improbable Life & Death of a Tech Billionaire

Katie Prescott

The Curious Case of Mike Lynch: The Improbable Life & Death of a Tech Billionaire

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Mike Lynch was a maverick outsider in the British business world.

From humble beginnings, Lynch rose to become one of the UK’s richest men, selling his home-grown enterprise software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for over £11bn in 2011. The sale triggered one of the biggest fraud cases in Silicon Valley history, as HP accused him of cooking the company’s books. Lynch was sent to the US in handcuffs, his reputation in tatters – but was acquitted by a US jury, and returned home a free man.

Tragically, his second chance at life was snatched away even as he was celebrating his freedom. In a freak accident, his yacht sunk off the coast of northern Sicily in August 2024, taking the lives of Lynch, his daughter and five others. Shockingly, the co-defendant in the US trial, Autonomy accountant Stephen Chamberlain, was killed hours before Lynch, hit by a car in Cambridge. It was almost thirteen years to the day since the deal between HP and Autonomy was signed.

Drawing on extensive research and exclusive access to key sources, The Curious Case of Mike Lynch follows the billionaire’s dramatic rise and fall and, finally, his untimely and tragic death. It’s a thrilling story of money, power and deception, taking readers into a high-stakes world of corporate subterfuge and rivalries, zigzagging through the hallowed confines of Cambridge across the cut-throat streets of the City of London to Silicon Valley.

In this pacy, no-holds barred investigation into one of the most fascinating men in the history of British business, award-winning Times journalist Katie Prescott reflects on Lynch’s legacy, outlining lessons from a truly unique life which serve as both a warning and inspiration for us all.