• HPE going after Mike Lynch's estate

    From Simon Clubley@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 4 18:24:17 2024
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife). :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    Simon.

    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Single Stage to Orbit@21:1/5 to Simon Clubley on Wed Sep 4 22:45:35 2024
    On Wed, 2024-09-04 at 18:24 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife). :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    It's vindictive and mean-minded. I wonder who made the decision?
    --
    Tactical Nuclear Kittens

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From chrisq@21:1/5 to Single Stage to Orbit on Thu Sep 5 19:43:40 2024
    On 9/4/24 22:45, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
    On Wed, 2024-09-04 at 18:24 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife). :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    It's vindictive and mean-minded. I wonder who made the decision?

    Greed hath no bounds. I guess it will be the shareholders forcing
    this, but the uk case has not yet been appealed, so if will take a
    lot of time.

    Greedy grubby, spiv company, completely devoid of it's founders
    ethical values and attitudes. Just say no...

    Chris

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@21:1/5 to chrisq on Thu Sep 5 14:56:14 2024
    On 9/5/2024 2:43 PM, chrisq wrote:
    On 9/4/24 22:45, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
    On Wed, 2024-09-04 at 18:24 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife). :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    It's vindictive and mean-minded. I wonder who made the decision?

    Greed hath no bounds. I guess it will be the shareholders forcing
    this, but the uk case has not yet been appealed, so if will take a
    lot of time.

    Greedy grubby, spiv company, completely devoid of it's founders
    ethical values and attitudes. Just say no...

    Maybe the decision makers have not even understood the math.

    It is not:
    4 B$ ~ badwill in the UK

    It is:
    MIN(what court will end up with,what is left in the estate) - legal expensenses ~ badwill in the UK

    If we let my RNG produce some random numbers: court says 2 B$,
    estate after taxes is 800 M$, legal cost are are 500 M$ - then
    HPE is getting UK thisbad will for 300 M$.

    Numbers are made up, but the relevant amount is not 4 B$.

    Arne

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  • From Single Stage to Orbit@21:1/5 to chrisq on Thu Sep 5 21:09:04 2024
    On Thu, 2024-09-05 at 19:43 +0100, chrisq wrote:
    On 9/4/24 22:45, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
    On Wed, 2024-09-04 at 18:24 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife).
    :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    It's vindictive and mean-minded. I wonder who made the decision?

    Greed hath no bounds. I guess it will be the shareholders forcing
    this, but the uk case has not yet been appealed, so if will take a
    lot of time.

    Greedy grubby, spiv company, completely devoid of it's founders
    ethical values and attitudes. Just say no...

    Trouble is their Zbooks are very nice. I don't buy them new though.
    --
    Tactical Nuclear Kittens

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to alex.buell@munted.eu on Thu Sep 5 20:48:08 2024
    Single Stage to Orbit <alex.buell@munted.eu> wrote:
    On Wed, 2024-09-04 at 18:24 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife). :-(
    =20
    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/
    =20
    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    It's vindictive and mean-minded. I wonder who made the decision?

    Carly doesn't work there anymore.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Dave Froble@21:1/5 to Simon Clubley on Fri Sep 6 20:07:24 2024
    On 9/4/2024 2:24 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife). :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    Simon.


    Why not? Isn't that why they sank his boat?

    Just another conspiracy theory ...

    :-)

    --
    David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
    Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: davef@tsoft-inc.com
    DFE Ultralights, Inc.
    170 Grimplin Road
    Vanderbilt, PA 15486

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  • From chrisq@21:1/5 to Single Stage to Orbit on Sun Sep 8 00:04:41 2024
    On 9/5/24 21:09, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
    On Thu, 2024-09-05 at 19:43 +0100, chrisq wrote:
    On 9/4/24 22:45, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
    On Wed, 2024-09-04 at 18:24 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife).
    :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    It's vindictive and mean-minded. I wonder who made the decision?

    Greed hath no bounds. I guess it will be the shareholders forcing
    this, but the uk case has not yet been appealed, so if will take a
    lot of time.

    Greedy grubby, spiv company, completely devoid of it's founders
    ethical values and attitudes. Just say no...

    Trouble is their Zbooks are very nice. I don't buy them new though.


    Panasonic Toughbook here, for years. Various types, from office
    hardened, to mil grade. All expensive new, but buy second user, as
    I don't need latest and greatest. Very reliable, loads of options,
    long battery life and really are tough as nails. A true engineer's
    laptop.

    <usual disclaimer etc>

    Chris

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@21:1/5 to chrisq on Sun Sep 15 14:29:40 2024
    On 9/5/2024 2:43 PM, chrisq wrote:
    On 9/4/24 22:45, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
    On Wed, 2024-09-04 at 18:24 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife). :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    It's vindictive and mean-minded. I wonder who made the decision?

    Greed hath no bounds. I guess it will be the shareholders forcing
    this, but the uk case has not yet been appealed, so if will take a
    lot of time.

    Greedy grubby, spiv company, completely devoid of it's founders
    ethical values and attitudes.

    Now it is practically a confession.

    https://fortune.com/europe/2024/09/13/hewlett-packard-chief-mike-lynch-grieving-family-lawsuit/

    "a ‘difficult decision’ done in ‘the best interests of shareholders’"

    I don't think there is much difference between that and "greed".

    Arne

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  • From Simon Clubley@21:1/5 to arne@vajhoej.dk on Mon Sep 16 12:31:00 2024
    On 2024-09-15, Arne Vajhj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
    On 9/5/2024 2:43 PM, chrisq wrote:
    On 9/4/24 22:45, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
    On Wed, 2024-09-04 at 18:24 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote:
    HPE have decided to go after Mike Lynch's estate (ie: his wife). :-(

    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/02/hpe_mike_lynch_damages/

    Absolutely the wrong thing for them to do.

    It's vindictive and mean-minded. I wonder who made the decision?

    Greed hath no bounds. I guess it will be the shareholders forcing
    this, but the uk case has not yet been appealed, so if will take a
    lot of time.

    Greedy grubby, spiv company, completely devoid of it's founders
    ethical values and attitudes.

    Now it is practically a confession.

    https://fortune.com/europe/2024/09/13/hewlett-packard-chief-mike-lynch-grieving-family-lawsuit/


    That's disgusting. :-( :-(

    "a ?difficult decision? done in ?the best interests of shareholders?"

    I don't think there is much difference between that and "greed".


    The best way of protecting the interests of the shareholders would have
    been to do proper diligence before purchase and offer a much more
    realistic price.

    Can I assume that, in order to protect the shareholders, they intend to
    go after the HP management who made the purchase decision in the first place without carrying out the due diligence checks before buying Autonomy ?

    No, I didn't think so. :-(

    Simon.

    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@21:1/5 to Simon Clubley on Mon Sep 16 09:25:39 2024
    On 9/16/2024 8:31 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    Can I assume that, in order to protect the shareholders, they intend to
    go after the HP management who made the purchase decision in the first place without carrying out the due diligence checks before buying Autonomy ?

    No, I didn't think so. :-(

    The acquisition was done in the very short reign of Leo Apotheker.

    According to Wikpedia he got 7.2 M$ in severance pay, 3.56 M$
    in shares and a performance bonus of 2.4 M$ when he was kicked out
    after 10 months.

    And he has done rather well as member/chairman of various
    companies boards since then.

    But he does not have 4 B$.

    Arne

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Simon Clubley@21:1/5 to arne@vajhoej.dk on Mon Sep 16 18:18:28 2024
    On 2024-09-16, Arne Vajhj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
    On 9/16/2024 8:31 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    Can I assume that, in order to protect the shareholders, they intend to
    go after the HP management who made the purchase decision in the first place >> without carrying out the due diligence checks before buying Autonomy ?

    No, I didn't think so. :-(

    The acquisition was done in the very short reign of Leo Apotheker.

    According to Wikpedia he got 7.2 M$ in severance pay, 3.56 M$
    in shares and a performance bonus of 2.4 M$ when he was kicked out
    after 10 months.

    And he has done rather well as member/chairman of various
    companies boards since then.

    But he does not have 4 B$.


    The point is to make an example of him for not following established
    procedures and hence costing them a _lot_ of money.

    That way, future executives will be less tempted to do the same thing
    and hence the shareholders benefit.

    These people get a _lot_ of money. They should have a level of
    responsibility that matches earning that amount of money.

    I wonder if HPE's plan is to try and make Mrs Lynch throw in the towel
    while she is under extreme emotional stress and hence they can claim
    some sort of "victory", at least in their little minds ? :-( :-(

    Simon.

    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@21:1/5 to Simon Clubley on Tue Sep 17 08:39:32 2024
    On 9/17/2024 8:26 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    On 2024-09-16, Simon Clubley <clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> wrote:
    I wonder if HPE's plan is to try and make Mrs Lynch throw in the towel
    while she is under extreme emotional stress and hence they can claim
    some sort of "victory", at least in their little minds ? :-( :-(

    From https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/16/hpe_lynch_damages/ is this
    little gem:

    |In addition to damages, HPE has the right to ask the Lynch estate to cover |its legal costs, believed to be at least £40 million ($52.8 million).

    It could easily be in the hundreds of millions before the case is over.

    But HPE will most likely pay, because that right is most likely
    not worth a cent.

    What is the difference between HPE being awarded 4 B$ from an
    estate worth 1 B$ and HPE being awarded 4 B$ + a few hundred M$
    for legal cost from an estate worth 1 B$?

    None!

    That right is only worth anything if HPE get awarded so small
    a restitution that the estate has money left to pay legal fees.

    Arne

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Simon Clubley@21:1/5 to Simon Clubley on Tue Sep 17 12:26:53 2024
    On 2024-09-16, Simon Clubley <clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> wrote:

    I wonder if HPE's plan is to try and make Mrs Lynch throw in the towel
    while she is under extreme emotional stress and hence they can claim
    some sort of "victory", at least in their little minds ? :-( :-(


    From https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/16/hpe_lynch_damages/ is this
    little gem:

    |In addition to damages, HPE has the right to ask the Lynch estate to cover |its legal costs, believed to be at least 40 million ($52.8 million).

    Also, don't forget that this legal system is the same legal system that believed the Post Office when it said that lots of subpostmasters were
    stealing from it. :-(

    Simon.

    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@21:1/5 to Simon Clubley on Tue Sep 17 21:12:44 2024
    On 9/16/2024 2:18 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    On 2024-09-16, Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
    On 9/16/2024 8:31 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    Can I assume that, in order to protect the shareholders, they intend to
    go after the HP management who made the purchase decision in the first place
    without carrying out the due diligence checks before buying Autonomy ?

    No, I didn't think so. :-(

    The acquisition was done in the very short reign of Leo Apotheker.

    According to Wikpedia he got 7.2 M$ in severance pay, 3.56 M$
    in shares and a performance bonus of 2.4 M$ when he was kicked out
    after 10 months.

    And he has done rather well as member/chairman of various
    companies boards since then.

    But he does not have 4 B$.

    The point is to make an example of him for not following established procedures and hence costing them a _lot_ of money.

    That way, future executives will be less tempted to do the same thing
    and hence the shareholders benefit.

    These people get a _lot_ of money. They should have a level of
    responsibility that matches earning that amount of money.

    I totally agree with that.

    But unless there is a claw back clause in his contract,
    then there is no way to move forward with that.

    And I am a little bit puzzled that you believe that
    the company should try and claw back severance/bonus
    of a an ex-CEO for negligence in an
    acquisition, because it may deter other CEO's from
    doing the same, but you don't believe that the
    company should try and claw back the gain of
    company sale based on fraudulent accounting practices
    from the company's CEO? The CEO avoided jail because
    the court did not find it proven that he knew about the
    fraudulent accounting practices, but while not knowing
    is not an criminal offense, then it is still
    negligence and clawing back the gain may deter other
    CEO's from doing the same.

    Arne

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  • From Chris Townley@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 18 02:58:03 2024
    On 18/09/2024 02:12, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
    On 9/16/2024 2:18 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    On 2024-09-16, Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
    On 9/16/2024 8:31 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    Can I assume that, in order to protect the shareholders, they intend to >>>> go after the HP management who made the purchase decision in the
    first place
    without carrying out the due diligence checks before buying Autonomy ? >>>>
    No, I didn't think so. :-(

    The acquisition was done in the very short reign of Leo Apotheker.

    According to Wikpedia he got 7.2 M$ in severance pay, 3.56 M$
    in shares and a performance bonus of 2.4 M$ when he was kicked out
    after 10 months.

    And he has done rather well as member/chairman of various
    companies boards since then.

    But he does not have 4 B$.

    The point is to make an example of him for not following established
    procedures and hence costing them a _lot_ of money.

    That way, future executives will be less tempted to do the same thing
    and hence the shareholders benefit.

    These people get a _lot_ of money. They should have a level of
    responsibility that matches earning that amount of money.

    I totally agree with that.

    But unless there is a claw back clause in his contract,
    then there is no way to move forward with that.

    And I am a little bit puzzled that you believe that
    the company should try and claw back severance/bonus
    of a an ex-CEO for negligence in an
    acquisition, because it may deter other CEO's from
    doing the same, but you don't believe that the
    company should try and claw back the gain of
    company sale based on fraudulent accounting practices
    from the company's CEO? The CEO avoided jail because
    the court did not find it proven that he knew about the
    fraudulent accounting practices, but while not knowing
    is not an criminal offense, then it is still
    negligence and clawing back the gain may deter other
    CEO's from doing the same.

    Arne

    Over here in the UK, we have a legal principle of Caveat Emptor

    --
    Chris

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@21:1/5 to Chris Townley on Tue Sep 17 22:46:11 2024
    On 9/17/2024 9:58 PM, Chris Townley wrote:
    On 18/09/2024 02:12, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
    And I am a little bit puzzled that you believe that
    the company should try and claw back severance/bonus
    of a an ex-CEO for negligence in an
    acquisition, because it may deter other CEO's from
    doing the same, but you don't believe that the
    company should try and claw back the gain of
    company sale based on fraudulent accounting practices
    from the company's CEO? The CEO avoided jail because
    the court did not find it proven that he knew about the
    fraudulent accounting practices, but while not knowing
    is not an criminal offense, then it is still
    negligence and clawing back the gain may deter other
    CEO's from doing the same.

    Over here in the UK, we have a legal principle of Caveat Emptor

    That principle is not UK specific.

    But I don't think it is relevant.

    It means that buyer can not sue seller related to information
    buyer did not ask for.

    It does not mean that buyer can not sue seller related to
    fraudulent information provided.

    As https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caveat_emptor state:

    <quote>
    Under the principle of caveat emptor, the buyer could not recover
    damages from the seller for defects on the property that rendered the
    property unfit for ordinary purposes. The only exception was if the
    seller actively concealed latent defects or otherwise made material misrepresentations amounting to fraud.
    </quote>

    And the UK high court has decided that it was fraud.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-60170510

    <quote>
    HP sued its founder and former chief financial officer, claiming they "artificially inflated Autonomy's reported revenues, revenue growth and
    gross margins".

    Mr Justice Hildyard said HP had "substantially won" its case.
    </quote>

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/28/hewlett-packard-wins-civil-case-against-mike-lynch-over-autonomy-sale

    <quote>
    Hewlett-Packard has won its six-year civil fraud case against Mike
    Lynch, the man once hailed as Britain’s answer to Bill Gates, after a
    high court judge ruled that he duped the US firm into paying £8.2bn for
    his software firm Autonomy.

    Lynch, who was on Friday waiting to find out if he could be extradited
    to the US to face a separate criminal trial, was found to have defrauded
    HP by manipulating Autonomy’s accounts to inflate the value of the
    company. He has always denied the accusation and said on Friday that he
    would appeal.

    “Claimants have substantially succeeded in their claims in this proceeding,” said Mr Justice Hildyard, after a 93-day trial during which 28,000 documents were considered as evidence..

    He said the damages were likely to be significantly less than the $5bn
    claimed by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and successor companies, while he also
    cast doubt on the reliability of some of the US firm’s witnesses.

    However, he ruled that HP had been induced into overpaying for the
    takeover, due to fraud perpetrated by Lynch and Autonomy’s former
    finance director, Sushovan Hussain, who is in jail in the US after being
    found guilty of fraud relating to the same deal .
    </quote>

    I assume that Mr Justice Hildyard has heard about caveat emptor. But
    did not consider it a valid defense.

    Arne

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  • From Simon Clubley@21:1/5 to arne@vajhoej.dk on Wed Sep 18 12:40:57 2024
    On 2024-09-17, Arne Vajhj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:

    Lynch, who was on Friday waiting to find out if he could be extradited
    to the US to face a separate criminal trial, was found to have defrauded
    HP by manipulating Autonomy?s accounts to inflate the value of the
    company. He has always denied the accusation and said on Friday that he
    would appeal.


    This is the same legal system that said hundreds of innocent people were ripping off the Post Office and then proceeded to destroy their lives.
    Since the details of that became fully public, my opinion of our legal
    system in related matters has taken a massive nosedive.

    ?Claimants have substantially succeeded in their claims in this
    proceeding,? said Mr Justice Hildyard, after a 93-day trial during which 28,000 documents were considered as evidence..

    He said the damages were likely to be significantly less than the $5bn claimed by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and successor companies, while he also
    cast doubt on the reliability of some of the US firm?s witnesses.

    However, he ruled that HP had been induced into overpaying for the
    takeover, due to fraud perpetrated by Lynch and Autonomy?s former
    finance director, Sushovan Hussain, who is in jail in the US after being found guilty of fraud relating to the same deal .

    Annoying how the fact that HP never even completed the expected due
    diligence before purchase doesn't enter into this decision.

    Also, the numbers don't add up. From:

    https://www.cio.com/article/304397/the-hp-autonomy-lawsuit-timeline-of-an-ma-disaster.html

    the claim is that Autonomy overstated its revenue by US$700 million yet
    HP did a multi-billion USD writedown. HP massively overpaid for Autonomy
    and are trying to deflect blame away from their massive screwup in both overpaying and not even waiting for the due diligence to be completed.

    How do you get from a $700 million fraud claim to a $5 billion+ writedown ?

    Simon.

    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@21:1/5 to Simon Clubley on Wed Sep 18 09:15:28 2024
    On 9/18/2024 8:40 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    On 2024-09-17, Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
    Lynch, who was on Friday waiting to find out if he could be extradited
    to the US to face a separate criminal trial, was found to have defrauded
    HP by manipulating Autonomy?s accounts to inflate the value of the
    company. He has always denied the accusation and said on Friday that he
    would appeal.

    This is the same legal system that said hundreds of innocent people were ripping off the Post Office and then proceeded to destroy their lives.
    Since the details of that became fully public, my opinion of our legal
    system in related matters has taken a massive nosedive.

    Maybe.

    But you should expect the judges to have a much better understanding
    of century old principles for buying and selling goods than of
    how poor quality software can be.


    ?Claimants have substantially succeeded in their claims in this
    proceeding,? said Mr Justice Hildyard, after a 93-day trial during which
    28,000 documents were considered as evidence..

    He said the damages were likely to be significantly less than the $5bn
    claimed by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and successor companies, while he also
    cast doubt on the reliability of some of the US firm?s witnesses.

    However, he ruled that HP had been induced into overpaying for the
    takeover, due to fraud perpetrated by Lynch and Autonomy?s former
    finance director, Sushovan Hussain, who is in jail in the US after being
    found guilty of fraud relating to the same deal .

    Annoying how the fact that HP never even completed the expected due
    diligence before purchase doesn't enter into this decision.

    That is not relevant when there is fraud.

    Also, the numbers don't add up. From:

    https://www.cio.com/article/304397/the-hp-autonomy-lawsuit-timeline-of-an-ma-disaster.html

    the claim is that Autonomy overstated its revenue by US$700 million yet
    HP did a multi-billion USD writedown. HP massively overpaid for Autonomy
    and are trying to deflect blame away from their massive screwup in both overpaying and not even waiting for the due diligence to be completed.

    How do you get from a $700 million fraud claim to a $5 billion+ writedown ?

    HP write down was actually 8.8 B$ - and they claim 5 B$
    (elsewhere it is stated as 4 B$, the judge could decide on a
    significant lower amount). So HP is really saying that
    they lost 5/4/X B$ due to fraud in the numbers they got and lost
    3.8/4.8/8.8-X B$ due to overpaying even if the numbers had been correct.

    But back to the main question.

    The 700 M$ and 5 B$ is not the same type of number.

    You need to distinguish between:

    revenue = sale
    profit = profit margin * revenue
    value = accumulated expected profit from now to eternity discounted with interest rate

    There is nothing surprising in that a delta value is bigger than
    a delta revenue.

    It would be surprising if it was not.

    Arne

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  • From Dave Froble@21:1/5 to Chris Townley on Wed Sep 18 17:37:30 2024
    On 9/17/2024 9:58 PM, Chris Townley wrote:
    On 18/09/2024 02:12, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
    On 9/16/2024 2:18 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    On 2024-09-16, Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
    On 9/16/2024 8:31 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
    Can I assume that, in order to protect the shareholders, they intend to >>>>> go after the HP management who made the purchase decision in the first place
    without carrying out the due diligence checks before buying Autonomy ? >>>>>
    No, I didn't think so. :-(

    The acquisition was done in the very short reign of Leo Apotheker.

    According to Wikpedia he got 7.2 M$ in severance pay, 3.56 M$
    in shares and a performance bonus of 2.4 M$ when he was kicked out
    after 10 months.

    And he has done rather well as member/chairman of various
    companies boards since then.

    But he does not have 4 B$.

    The point is to make an example of him for not following established
    procedures and hence costing them a _lot_ of money.

    That way, future executives will be less tempted to do the same thing
    and hence the shareholders benefit.

    These people get a _lot_ of money. They should have a level of
    responsibility that matches earning that amount of money.

    I totally agree with that.

    But unless there is a claw back clause in his contract,
    then there is no way to move forward with that.

    And I am a little bit puzzled that you believe that
    the company should try and claw back severance/bonus
    of a an ex-CEO for negligence in an
    acquisition, because it may deter other CEO's from
    doing the same, but you don't believe that the
    company should try and claw back the gain of
    company sale based on fraudulent accounting practices
    from the company's CEO? The CEO avoided jail because
    the court did not find it proven that he knew about the
    fraudulent accounting practices, but while not knowing
    is not an criminal offense, then it is still
    negligence and clawing back the gain may deter other
    CEO's from doing the same.

    Arne

    Over here in the UK, we have a legal principle of Caveat Emptor


    There is two sides, at least, to that.

    The buyer should know what he is buying, and that is his responsibility, including making sure the seller is being honest.

    Then again, a seller being fraudulent, should not be tolerated.

    Not that I know much, but I thought HP was at fault. Then again, there is the old "reach for a lawyer" that is sort of despise.

    --
    David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
    Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: davef@tsoft-inc.com
    DFE Ultralights, Inc.
    170 Grimplin Road
    Vanderbilt, PA 15486

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  • From Simon Clubley@21:1/5 to Dave Froble on Thu Sep 19 12:18:58 2024
    On 2024-09-18, Dave Froble <davef@tsoft-inc.com> wrote:

    There is two sides, at least, to that.

    The buyer should know what he is buying, and that is his responsibility, including making sure the seller is being honest.


    It's called due diligence and in an act of corporate stupidity, HP utterly failed to properly carry out these standard (and expected) checks.

    Then again, a seller being fraudulent, should not be tolerated.

    Not that I know much, but I thought HP was at fault. Then again, there is the
    old "reach for a lawyer" that is sort of despise.


    The main problem is that HP failed to do the standard due diligence checks before making what turned out to be a massively over-priced offer.

    If HP had waited, then the auditors would have been able to build a more accurate picture of what Autonomy was really worth after any underlying problems had been found, and HP would have made a lower but more accurate offer.

    Now HP want the money back that they overpaid due to their own stupidity
    and are trying to make it sound like it wasn't their fault for not doing
    the standard checks they were supposed to do in the first place.

    Simon.

    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

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