Mike Lynch: New report reveals the truth about HP write-down

Autonomy founder dissects HP filing which he claims proves he is right

Autonomy founder Mike Lynch has unearthed an HP report which he claims proves the vendor only had itself to blame for the infamous $8.8bn (£5.5bn) write-down of its acquisition of his company.

In November 2012, HP accused Autonomy of accounting misrepresentations - which prompted the write-down - and since, the duo has been locked in a war of words.

On his blog last night, Lynch posted a lengthy note dissecting the contents of a recently-filed HP report, which he claims proves the write down was "due to HP's own recklessness".

The document, which was commissioned by HP chief executive Meg Whitman and submitted to court by the firm's lawyers, was filed earlier this month but was "buried in a mass of documents... used to divert press attention", according to Lynch.

He said the report reveals that it was "HP's aggressive assumptions" which led it to believe it could find $7.4bn "revenue synergies", not material issues with Autonomy's accounting.

"Autonomy's management cannot be held responsible for HP's excessive forecasting of synergies," Lynch said on his blog.

"The write off is due to HP's own recklessness and not due to any accounting improprieties."

He added that the filing proves his company did not wrongly book hardware sales.

"When HP accused the former management of Autonomy of accounting irregularities, it blamed the majority of these on 'hardware booked as software', and claimed that it was unaware that Autonomy was anything other than a software-only company until a 'whistleblower' came forward to point it out," he said.

"However, what this report now proves categorically, is that HP knew about Autonomy's hardware sales well over a year before they made their public accusation."

HP disputed Lynch's claims though, and said in a statement:

"As HP has stated on numerous occasions, when Autonomy management was confronted by HP on the question of their pre-acquisition hardware sales, they repeatedly described them as either ‘appliance sales' or ‘strategic sales' designed to further purchases of Autonomy software.

"HP was not told the truth - that Autonomy's pre-acquisition hardware sales were done with the sole purpose of artificially inflating Autonomy's revenues."