Mike Lynch, ‘Britain’s Bill Gates,’ Confirmed Dead in Superyacht Wreck

British bundle mogul Mike Lynch, 59, has died aft a superyacht helium was onboard sank disconnected the seashore of Sicily, wherever helium was celebrating being acquitted of fraud by a assemblage successful the US weeks earlier.

Lynch, his teenage girl Hannah, and 4 different passengers—including Morgan Stanley planetary seat Jonathan Bloomer (formerly of Lynch’s institution Autonomy) and Lynch’s lawyer Chris Morvillo, a spouse astatine Clifford Chance—were reported missing erstwhile the yacht sank. After a three-day search, the Italian coastguard has reportedly confirmed that Lynch had died successful the wreck. Lynch’s girl is inactive unaccounted for, but the bodies of the different passengers person present reportedly been identified.

Lynch is survived by 1 girl and his wife, Angela Bacares, who was among the 15 radical aboard the Bayesian who were rescued by exigency services.

The entrepreneur was initially reported missing aft the Bayesian—a 180-foot luxury trade reportedly registered to a institution owned by his wife—was buffeted by a convulsive windstorm successful the aboriginal hours. The storm, a benignant of marine tornado known arsenic a waterspout, is reported to person toppled the yacht’s mast, capsizing the vessel and causing it to sink.

The yacht’s sanction is thought to beryllium a tribute to Reverend Thomas Bayes, a antheral who successful the 1700s acceptable retired to beryllium the beingness of God done mathematics. Bayes’ enactment helped Lynch physique his fortune: His theorem was the ground of Autonomy’s quality to analyse large information sets. Autonomy, a bundle steadfast Lynch cofounded successful 1996, would go 1 of the UK’s astir palmy exertion exports during a play different dominated by Silicon Valley. In an interview with WIRED successful 2015, Lynch said that Bayes “would astir apt crook retired to beryllium to the accusation property what Einstein was to physics.”

Lynch was calved successful Ireland successful 1965 but was raised successful the English region of Essex. He studied earthy sciences astatine the University of Cambridge, wherever helium aboriginal obtained a doctorate successful mathematical computing and became a probe fellow.

Autonomy was acold from the lone institution Lynch had a manus in starting. In the 1980s, helium established Lynett Systems, which provided audio products to the euphony industry. In 1991, helium started Cambridge Neurodynamics, a institution that specialized successful fingerprint recognition. In 2012, helium founded Invoke Capital, a conveyance for investing successful British exertion companies which aboriginal provided effect backing to the present publically listed cybersecurity concern Darktrace.

In 2006, Lynch was awarded an OBE successful designation of his publication to British enterprise, and successful 2011 helium became an advisor to the UK authorities connected matters concerning subject and technology.

The nationalist cognition of Lynch would travel to beryllium defined, though, by the $11.7 cardinal merchantability of Autonomy to Hewlett Packard successful 2011—a woody that turned sour soon aft completion and implicit which helium was subsequently accused of fraud.

Within a year, HP had written down the worth of the acquisition by $8.8 billion, alleging it had uncovered “serious accounting improprieties” and “outright misrepresentations.” In 2019, the US Department of Justice brought 17 counts against Lynch connected the ground of those claims. The superseding indictment listed a assortment of charges, including ligament fraud and conspiracy.