A settlement between Hewlett-Packard (HP) and shareholders involved with HP's 2011 purchase of software firm Autonomy will supposedly be announced by Monday, according to a Reuters report citing an anonymous source.
HP's disastrous acquisition caused the company's shareholders to claim that it failed to conduct proper due diligence when purchasing the U.K. software company. HP's CEO Meg Whitman, on the other hand, claimed that Autonomy made "outright misrepresentations" regarding the software company's financials, making it seem like it was more stable than it actually was.
During the time of the acquisition, Autonomy's software smarts, especially when it came to search, was attractive to HP; HP's purchase of the company was an attempt by the hardware maker to boost its software services and help HP manage data.
An HP (S HPQ) spokesperson had this to say about the news: "HP is in serious discussions to settle the shareholder derivative litigation related to Autonomy, but no final deal has been reached yet."
As a result of the supposed upcoming settlement over the three lawsuits related to the purchase, shareholders are apparently willing to let HP executives, both current and former, off the hook. However, the shareholders are not going to be going easy on Autonomy's former officials -- including former CEO Michael Lynch and former CFO Sushovan Hussain -- and will link up with HP's legal team to pursue claims.
A request for comment was sent to attorney John W. Keker who represents former Autonomy chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain. I'll update if I hear back.
Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Shutterstock user Derek Hatfield.