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Ex-Autonomy boss Lynch sets out defence against HP with new website

Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy, has set up a website with information about the software company's former management team to respond to HP's accusations of financial improprieties.
Written by Ben Woods, Contributor

The former boss of Autonomy has set up a website to aid his defence against allegations of financial impropriety while in charge of the company.

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Former Autonomy boss Mike Lynch is fighting claims of financial impropriety. Image: Autonomy

Lynch, who left Cambridge-based software company Autonomy shortly after HP purchased it for £7.1bn in July 2011, said the website — AutonomyAccounts.org — was put up as a central point of information about the accusations of financial impropriety put forward by HP on 20 November.

"This site is designed to be a public point of contact for Dr Mike Lynch and other former managers at Autonomy with the wider world," the page reads. "The Autonomy team are committed to providing clear and transparent information during this process, and would like to see the issue resolved as quickly as possible."

Following the accusations of financial irregularities surrounding the deal, Lynch wrote an open letter to HP asking the company to explain the calculations that led to the $5.4bn impairment charge on Autonomy that HP announced last month, adding that he rejects all allegations of impropriety.

In response to Lynch's letter, HP responded by saying it had uncovered "extensive evidence of a wilful effort on behalf of certain former Autonomy employees to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company in order to mislead investors and potential buyers" and that the issue was now in the hands of the relevant authorities.

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