Former CEO of Autonomy to Face Conspiracy, Fraud Charges

Whatever happened to caveat emptor?

From NYtimes 2015 [1]

> Some consider the Autonomy acquisition to be the worst corporate deal ever.

> Just how bad is confirmed by the latest revelations from a shareholders’ suit over the deal: Mr. Apotheker didn’t even read the due diligence report on Autonomy that H.P. commissioned from KPMG, the giant accounting firm. Nor did Raymond J. Lane, the board chairman, or any other member of the board, according to a report prepared by the law firm Proskauer Rose, which was hired to represent H.P.’s independent directors.

> Had they read even the executive summary, they would have discovered numerous warnings — enough to have prevented the deal in the first place, or at least to have led them to renegotiate it.

> “For the C.E.O. not to have read it, for an acquisition this size, is highly disturbing,” said Charles M. Elson, director of the Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware and co-author of “The Art of M&A Due Diligence.” “And the entire board should have at least read the executive summary.”

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/business/leo-apotheker-ma...

Out of curiosity, has anyone here ever used Autonomy's product? Given it was such a high profile company, I have always been surprised that I had never seen it action or met anyone who had used it?

I lived with a woman who received a $50,000 payout as an Autonomy employee via proceeds from Autonomy's sale to HP. She invested it. I wonder if she will ever have to return it.