‘Britain’s Bill Gates’: UK Tech Entrepreneur Mike Lynch Missing After Superyacht Sinks

British tech mogul Mike Lynch, often referred to as “Britain’s Bill Gates,” has gone missing following the sinking of his superyacht, the Bayesian, off the coast of Sicily. The yacht, anchored near Porticello, capsized during a violent storm, with Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares among the 15 rescued survivors. However, Lynch, his daughter Hannah, and others remain unaccounted for.

Lynch, founder of the software firm Autonomy, was recently acquitted of fraud charges in a high-profile trial involving Hewlett Packard’s $11.7 billion acquisition of Autonomy. The acquittal followed years of legal battles over allegations that Lynch inflated Autonomy’s value in the sale. Lynch, who has a background in natural sciences from Cambridge, became a billionaire after Autonomy’s rise to prominence in the tech world, though his legal battles and acquittal marked a dramatic turn in his career.

The Bayesian incident follows just weeks after Lynch discussed the emotional toll of his U.S. trial and his hopes of finding a new direction in life following the acquittal. Tragically, this search for peace now takes a back seat to the search for Lynch and the other missing persons.