HP Autonomy

HP Autonomy
IndustryInformation technology
FoundedJune 1996; 28 years ago (1996-06) (as Autonomy Corporation PLC)
Cambridge, England, U.K.
FounderMichael Lynch
Richard Gaunt
Defunct2017; 7 years ago (2017)
FateAssets divided and later merged with Micro Focus and OpenText
SuccessorOpenText
HeadquartersCambridge, United Kingdom
San Francisco, United States
Area served
Global
Key people
Robert Youngjohns (SVP & General Manager)
ProductsBig data analytics, information governance, data protection and digital marketing
Autonomy Corporation headquarters at Cambridge Business Park.

HP Autonomy, previously Autonomy Corporation PLC, was an enterprise software company which was merged with Micro Focus in 2017 and OpenText in 2023 (OpenText had acquired the content management assets of Autonomy in 2016). It was founded in Cambridge, United Kingdom in 1996.

Autonomy was acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HP) in October 2011. The deal valued Autonomy at $11.7 billion (£7.4 billion). Within a year, HP had written off $8.8 billion of Autonomy's value.[1] HP claimed this resulted from "serious accounting improprieties" and "outright misrepresentations" by the previous management.[2][3] The former CEO, Mike Lynch, said that the problems were due to HP's running of Autonomy.[4]

HP recruited Robert Youngjohns, ex-Microsoft president of North America, to take over HP Autonomy in September 2012. In 2015, HP was split into HP Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE); HP Autonomy assets were divided between them with HPE taking the larger part. HP Inc later sold its Autonomy content management assets to Canadian software company OpenText in 2016. In 2017, HPE sold its remaining Autonomy assets, as part of a wider deal, to the British software company Micro Focus.[5] In 2023, OpenText acquired Micro Focus, and reunited the two halves of former Autonomy assets.[6]

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  6. ^ "Micro Focus expects takeover by OpenText to complete next week". Shares Magazine. 27 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.