The nuts and bolts of HP’s $11.1 billion acquisition of Autonomy are pretty wonky. But we know a good scandal when we see one, and this $8.8 billion loss and the whole “fraud” debacle are shaking up to be one for the record books.
After losing all that money, HP pointed the finger at its subsidiary, alleging that cooked books had made Autonomy appear more valuable than it really was. If the HP thought the former Autonomy team would go quietly into that good night, the Silicon Valley giant was sadley mistaken. Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch has loudly maintained his innocence, and now Business Insider reports that he’s started a blog to defend against the allegations.
The description:
This website is maintained by Dr Mike Lynch on behalf of the former management team of Autonomy. The site provides relevant information pertaining to the accusations made by Hewlett Packard (HP) on 20 November 2012 of financial impropriety at Autonomy. The former management team of Autonomy strongly rejects the accusations made by HP.
Thus far the blog is mostly placeholder, with an open letter to HP board dated November 27, an Autonomy timeline and the lengthiest legal notice we’ve ever seen outside of an iTunes terms of service agreement. But we’re adding it to our RSS feed and waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It’s tough to say who to believe here, but one thing is for sure: This is just the latest chapter in the sad, sorry history of corporate scandals at Hewlett-Packard, a company’s had its dirty laundry aired over and over again in the most public of possible arenas. The company has had, count ’em, seven CEOs since 1999. CEO Meg Whitman was supposed to be a clean break with a past involving rampant leaks to the press, sexual harassment and gross infighting on the company’s board of directors.
Guess that’s not working out so well.