Mike Lynch, the software millionaire missing after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, is one of the few British entrepreneurs to have built a global technology

company. Often dubbed "Britain’s Bill Gates," Lynch’s journey, however, is markedly different from that of the Microsoft founder.

Just three months ago, the 59-year-old was cleared of 15 counts of fraud in the United States related to the $11.1 billion sale of his company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011—a case he feared might end with him dying in prison due to a lung condition. “If this had gone the wrong way, it would have been the end of life as I have known it in any sense,” Lynch told the Sunday Times.

Born in Ireland and raised near Chelmsford in Essex, Lynch studied physics, mathematics, and biochemistry at Cambridge University, eventually specializing in adaptive pattern recognition. His doctoral thesis became one of the most widely read pieces of research in the university’s library.

Lynch’s entrepreneurial career began with several tech startups, including one focusing on recognition software for police use. In 1996, he founded Autonomy, which developed software for analyzing vast amounts of data. The software's effectiveness was partly due to Bayesian inference, a statistical theory developed by the 18th-century statistician and philosopher Thomas Bayes. Coincidentally, the superyacht that sank off Sicily was named Bayesian.

Autonomy quickly became a business success, floating on the Brussels stock exchange in 1998 and later joining the FTSE 100 in London during the dotcom boom. Lynch’s achievements led to his appointment as a science adviser to then-Prime Minister David Cameron, a non-executive director of the BBC, and the awarding of an OBE in 2006 for services to enterprise.

However, the 2011 sale of Autonomy to HP turned controversial when the US company took an $8.8 billion writedown on the acquisition a year later, alleging “serious accounting improprieties” at the UK firm. Lynch has since been embroiled in legal battles to defend his reputation, consistently denying any wrongdoing.

Autonomy’s former finance director, Sushovan Hussain, was sentenced to five years in prison in the US for fraud related to the HP deal. In 2022, Lynch lost a civil fraud case brought by HP in the UK, where it was alleged that he was aware of the fraudulent practices at Autonomy. Lynch had planned to appeal the ruling, which could have involved a claim for $4 billion in damages.

Despite his professional successes, Lynch was known for his personal quirks. At his companies, he reportedly infused a James Bond theme, naming conference rooms after Bond villains and even installing a piranha tank in a nod to the film You Only Live Twice. Outside of work, Lynch, who is married with two daughters, enjoyed building model railways and breeding koi carp.

After being acquitted in the US, Lynch expressed his intention to challenge the UK-US extradition treaty, arguing that it was unfair for a US prosecutor to have more power over a British citizen in England than the UK police.

Lynch and his wife, Angela Bacares, who was reportedly rescued from the sinking yacht, were estimated to be worth £500 million according to this year’s Sunday Times Rich List. Tragically, one of Lynch’s daughters, aged 18, is believed to be among the four Britons missing after the yacht, named Bayesian, sank. Two Americans and a Canadian are also missing.