Mike Lynch, a prominent British tech entrepreneur often referred to as the “British Bill Gates,” is among those missing after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a sudden storm on Monday. The 59-year-old, who was recently acquitted of massive fraud charges in the U.S., was reportedly aboard the luxury vessel with colleagues, anchored near Porticello, east of Palermo.
Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was one of the 15 people rescued from the disaster, but his daughter Hannah is among the six still missing, according to Salvo Cocina, head of the Civil Protection Agency in Sicily.
Lynch, originally from Suffolk in eastern England, had a storied career as a tech pioneer. He earned his fortune, estimated at £500 million ($648 million), largely through his software company Autonomy, which he founded in 1996 in Cambridge. Autonomy became a leading British tech firm and was sold to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011 for $11 billion.
However, the deal quickly turned sour, with HP reporting an $8.8 billion write-down just a year later, including over $5 billion it attributed to inflated data from Autonomy. This led to a decade-long legal battle, with Lynch accused of participating in a scheme to deceive HP by artificially inflating Autonomy’s value before the sale.
Mike Lynch: The British ‘Bill Gates’ Missing After Yacht Sinks Off Sicily
Lynch was extradited from Britain to the U.S. last year to face trial, where he faced up to two decades in prison if convicted on 17 charges. However, he was acquitted on all charges in June 2024. After the verdict, Lynch expressed relief and a desire to return to his family and continue his work in the tech industry.
Despite his acquittal, Lynch’s legal woes are not fully resolved. In 2022, London’s High Court ruled in a civil fraud case that HP had been misled and overpaid for Autonomy. The court has yet to decide on the billions in damages sought by HP.
Lynch, who made around $815 million from the sale of Autonomy, has consistently denied the fraud allegations, claiming HP used him as a scapegoat for its own shortcomings.
Beyond his professional achievements, Lynch is a father of two daughters and a dog lover, with homes in the upscale Chelsea district of London and a farm in Suffolk.
The incident has cast a shadow over what had been a potential fresh start for Lynch, who had recently seen a resurgence in his business fortunes. Darktrace, a cybersecurity and AI firm in which he was a founding investor, accepted a $5.3 billion takeover offer from U.S. private equity firm Thoma Bravo in April, boosting its share price.
As the search for the missing continues, Lynch’s sudden disappearance has shocked the tech community and raised concerns for his family and colleagues. A spokeswoman for Lynch declined to comment on the situation when contacted by AFP.
