Autonomy Boss Sues Hewlett-Packard For $150m

British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has said he will be counter-suing computer giant Hewlett-Packard in what is the latest development in a long-running dispute.

Lynch says HP has issued statements which have been highly damaging to his reputation and have misled the stock market. He is suing the company for $150m (£99m).

The action would be a counter claim against a lawsuit lodged by HP in March of this year.

HP bought software company Autonomy, which Lynch founded and ran financially, for $11bn (£7bn) in 2011 but had to write off more than three-quarters of the firm’s value a year later.

They accuse Lynch and his colleagues of misrepresenting the worth of Autonomy during the sale and over-exaggerating the performance of the company.

As a result, HP is suing Lynch and another Autonomy employee, Sushovan Hussain, for damages worth around $5.6bn (£3.7bn).

But Lynch has now hit back and says HP were made fully aware of practices at Autonomy, with the company receiving a due diligence report prepared by advisory service KPMG prior to the sale.

"HP's own documents, which the court will see, make clear that HP was simply incompetent in its operation of Autonomy, and the acquisition was doomed from the very beginning," he said.

"This [lawsuit] is about dragging them to be accountable, to actually explain the chaos, the mismanagement and the internal warfare, and then the attempt to cover it up."

In response a HP spokesperson said Lynch’s lawsuit was "laughable" and a desperate attempt to divert attention from the $5bn lawsuit HP has filed and the ongoing criminal investigation".

"HP anxiously looks forward to the day Lynch and Hussain will be forced to answer for their actions in court.”