More than a decade after HP ‘s $11.1 billion takeover of UK firm Autonomy, the US tech giant has received court confirmation that it did indeed pay too much – although much less than it originally claimed. In the latest chapter of one of the most high-profile tech deals of recent years, London’s High Court has awarded HP the right to more than £700 million ($944 million) from the estate of the late Mike Lynch and his former partner, Sushovan Hussain.
The ruling, while favourable to HP, closes a long-running court battle with a much more modest compensation than the original claims of the company, which sued both former Autonomy executives for $5 billion in 2015. According to Judge Robert Hildyard, HP actually paid an inflated price – £25.50 per share instead of the reasonable £23 – which translated into an estimated £698 million difference. In addition, the court awarded HP a further $47.5 million for damages related to Autonomy’s post-acquisition operations.
The acquisition of Autonomy in 2011 was supposed to be a key step for HP to build a global leader in analytics software. Instead, the deal became one of the biggest strategic blunders in the company’s history. Within a year, HP had written off $8.8bn in asset impairments, blaming former Autonomy executives for deliberately inflating its financial results. Lynch and Hussain rejected these accusations, claiming that the problems stemmed from HP’s failure to integrate the company.
The case also had a dramatic personal dimension. Lynch died in 2024 in a yacht wreck off the coast of Sicily before completing his appeal. His co-accused, Hussain, had previously agreed to a settlement, the details of which were not disclosed.
The final hearing on how to divide the awarded sums between Lynch’s estate and Hussain’s will take place in November. For HP, it’s a partial rehabilitation – a symbolic victory in a years-long battle to regain its reputation and at least a chunk of lost money. For the UK tech scene – a reminder of how grand ambitions can end in an equally spectacular fall.
