Morgan Stanley Worldwide chairman Jonathan Bloomer is among the many lacking after a twister struck a luxurious yacht off the coast of Sicily on Monday. Billionaire tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, dubbed the “British Invoice Gates,” in addition to his daughter and three others, are additionally lacking and presumed lifeless.
The catastrophe got here weeks after Lynch was acquitted within the U.S. after going through fraud costs. Bloomer—who has served as Morgan Stanley’s chair for nearly eight years and can be the chair of insurance coverage group Hiscox, in keeping with his LinkedIn profile—performed a small position within the trial.
Lynch, 59, based software program firm Autonomy in 1996 and offered it to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for $11 billion. HP paid a 60% premium over Autonomy’s inventory worth, however only one yr after the blockbuster deal, HP reported an $8.8 billion write-down, attributing over $5 billion of that to inflated income knowledge from Autonomy. Lynch was charged with 16 counts of conspiracy and fraud, with one fraud cost later dismissed. In June, Lynch was acquitted of fraud and cleared of costs.
Bloomer, 70, served on Autonomy’s audit committee and as a non-executive on the corporate’s board in 2010. He additionallytestified throughout Lynch’s trial, telling the courtroom in Could that Lynch was “extra within the technique, new merchandise, new areas to take a look at, potential acquisitions,” reasonably than wanting on the monetary facet of the corporate.
The journey aboard the Bayesian was a celebration following the decades-long trial, however Bloomer and Lynch had been declared lacking after excessive winds and a vortex of water struck and capsized the superyacht. There have been 22 passengers aboard the 180-foot crusing yacht, 15 of whom had been rescued, and one who was declared lifeless. Italian emergency providers introduced Lynch’s spouse Angela Bacares, who owned the yacht, to security. Bloomer’s spouse stays lacking.
The Bayesian yacht accident has odd timing: It coincided with the dying of Lynch’s co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain, who died after being hit by a automobile in Cambridgeshire, England, on Saturday.
“We’re deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic occasion,” Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain mentioned in a press release. “Our ideas are with all these affected, particularly our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his spouse Judy, who’re among the many lacking, and with their household as they await additional information from this horrible scenario.”
Hiscox senior impartial director Colin Keogh will function interim chair, the corporate advised Fortune. Morgan Stanley didn’t reply to Fortune’s request for remark.
Bloomer’s tumultuous profession
Previous to his tenure at Morgan Stanley and Hiscox, Bloomer was the CEO of insurance coverage firm Prudential Monetary; he was ousted in 2005. The timing of Bloomer’s rising up the ranks was ill-timed, coinciding with the dotcom crash and 9/11, which despatched Prudential’s share costs plummeting 40%.
Throughout that point, Bloomer proposed shopping for U.S. insurer American Common, a transfer that was largely doomed due to American Worldwide Group’s bid for the corporate that topped Prudential’s, in addition to lack of investor confidence within the acquisition that despatched Pludential’s shares tanking. Bloomer needed to backtrack on the transfer, however by way of the takeover proposal, uncovered Prudential’s comparatively weak U.S. presence.
To make issues worse, Prudential’s web banking arm, Egg, fell in need of expectations, however Bloomer couldn’t discover an enough purchaser. Prudential ultimately offered Egg to Citigroup for about $750 million in 2007, however the firm estimated a $190 million working loss from Egg, twice what was initially anticipated.
Buyers’ outcry reached a fever pitch in 2004, when Bloomer surprise-launched a $1.3 billion rights problem in an effort to increase the agency’s UK enterprise, regardless of assuaging considerations the corporate wanted to lift extra capital to take action. The CEO was ousted lower than a yr later and changed with HBOS finance chief Mark Tucker. Bloomer known as it “a part of the ups and downs of company life.”
“Now we have needed to handle the corporate by way of tough instances and never every part has made us widespread,” he mentioned on the time. “However my job has been to guide a metamorphosis and Prudential is now set honest to ship additional substantial development and returns.”
