Mike Lynch, former chief executive officer at Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Autonomy unit, speaking at a conference on Thursday, April 25, 2013.
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LONDON — British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch is missing after the sinking of a superyacht off the coast of Sicily, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The sources, who preferred not to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation, said that Angela Bacares, Lynch’s wife, was confirmed as having been rescued.
The superyacht, called the Bayesian, capsized at around 5 a.m. local time while anchored off the coast of Porticello, a small fishing village located in the province of Palermo in Italy, according to various media reports.
The vessel was reportedly struck by an unexpectedly violent storm.
Lynch, 59, was the founder of enterprise software firm Autonomy. He became the target of a protracted legal battle with Hewlett Packard after the U.S. tech giant accused him of inflating Autonomy’s value in an $11 billion sale.
HP took an $8.8 billion writedown on the value of Autonomy within a year of buying it.
Lynch was extradited from Britain to the U.S. last year to stand trial over the HP allegations. In June, he was acquitted of fraud charges following the trial, which lasted for three months.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.