The Desire to Lynch: Capitalist Success and a Need to Undermine
February 11, 2020
Forbes, the capitalist tool. Now the magazine seems to be making its doubts about Malcolm’s mantra more obvious. The one of precepts of the capitalist tool is:
Anyone who says businessmen deal in facts, not fiction, has never read old five-year projections. – Malcolm Forbes, son of BC Forbes, who founded the magazine
What may be surfacing is push back against greed, success, and materialism.
DarkCyber found this Forbes’ article interesting: “Skeletons In The Closet: $2 Billion Cybersecurity Firm Darktrace Haunted By Characters From HP’s Failed Autonomy Deal.” This passage caught our attention:
Federal prosecutors were apoplectic, saying Hussain and his co-conspirators’ crimes reflected “an attitude that, like a James Bond villain or a Mafioso, they were above the law.” They also compared him to disgraced WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers.
Hussain is the former CFO of the search and content processing company Autonomy. Yep, the outfit which Hewlett Packard bought for $11 billion in 2011. The purchase price reflected the management acumen of Hewlett Packard, a well oiled Silicon Valley machine.
The Forbes’ article notes:
As a $5 billion civil fraud suit brought by HP in the U.K. rumbles on, the U.S. has pressed ahead with criminal charges in what prosecutors say is the largest fraud case in the history of the Northern District of California. Hussain, who is in the process of appealing his conviction, is the first of the old Autonomy guard to have been found guilty, going down for 14 counts of wire fraud, one of securities fraud and one of conspiracy. Two others—Autonomy founder and ex-CEO Mike Lynch and former finance vice president Steve Chamberlain—were also charged, but Lynch has yet to appear in court and a U.S. request for the extradition of Lynch is pending in the U.K. Earlier this week, Lynch submitted himself for arrest, in what his lawyers described as a “formality” in the extradition process. Lynch and Hussain are the focus of HP’s U.K. civil fraud claim, which lumbered through closing arguments in December and January. They are now awaiting a verdict. Lawyers for all three have professed their clients’ innocence.
Forbes then reminds the reader:
The Autonomy connection persists today; half of Darktrace’s board and six of its eight top executives are ex-Autonomy folks, which included Gustafsson (ex-corporate controller) and co-CEO Nicole Eagan (ex-chief marketing officer).
The most interesting angle in the story is alleged sexual harassment. What we have is a delightful tale of capitalism, Bondism, financial legerdemain, and me-too assertions.
Let’s step back. Is the write up about a brilliantly managed company like Hewlett Packard getting snookered by a company selling text processing technology? Is the write up about the evils of the team assembled by Michael Lynch to bring Bayesian to enterprise search? Is the write up about the personalities involved in the Autonomy and DarkTrace enterprises?
DarkCyber is on the edge of concluding that the real subject of the Forbes’ article is that capitalism is bad.
As Malcolm Forbes alleged said:
Unconsciously I had discovered the commentator’s secret weapon-that so long as you can wield words, it isn’t necessary to know what you’re talking about.
What’s the business of business? The “old” Forbes may have had the answer. The “new” Forbes is going another direction. k
As Malcolm Forbes allegedly revealed:
You’re fortunate when you can afford to be virtuous.
Is Forbes whipping up a lynch mob? That’s an interesting approach to capitalism.
Stephen E Arnold, February 11, 2020
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