Oracle calls Autonomy CEO a liar

SOFTWARE VENDOR Oracle has been offended by Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch and his refusal to admit that he tried to sell the firm before it was bought by HP.

In a statement the company attempted to dispel suggestions from Lynch that they had never met and that a deal had never been mentioned. Headlining its statement, "Another Whopper from Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch," it does not pull any punches.

"Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch continues to insist that Autonomy was never 'shopped' to Oracle. But now at least he remembers and admits to meeting with Oracle President Mark Hurd and Doug Kehring, Oracle's head of M&A, this past April," Oracle said.

"But CEO Lynch insists that it was a purely technical meeting, limited to a 'lively discussion of database technologies.' Interesting, but not true. Ably assisting Mike Lynch's attempt to sell Autonomy to Oracle was Silicon Valley's most famous shopper/seller of companies, the legendary investment banker Frank Quattrone."

Adding evidence to Oracle's claims are some slides shown by Lynch to the company that, rather than being technical in nature, were about his firm's financial results. Oracle has reproduced the document on its web site, "With the hope Mike Lynch will recognize his slides, his memory will be restored, and he will recall what he and Frank Quattrone discussed during their visit to Oracle last April."

Oracle is ticked off that Lynch has been telling his version of events in the last few days and is insisting that he explain the slides. The firm also reproduced the comments from Lynch that caused the argument between the two firms.

"On one of my trips to SF (April 2011)... I recall meeting with mark and someone else I believe called Doug. At the start of the meeting they joked that frank was there to sell them something," Lynch wrote.

"Frank Quattrone and I made it clear that was not the case. We then met and had a lively discussion about database technologies. The meeting lasted approximately 30 mins. Frank is happy to confirm this."

Oracle is not, however, and remaining committed to its description of the meeting as a "sales pitch", added that it "refused to make an offer because Autonomy's current market value of $6bn was way too high". µ