UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch missing after yacht sinks

Good morning. Mike Lynch, one of the UK’s best-known tech entrepreneurs, is among those missing after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily in bad weather.

Among the passengers on Lynch’s 56-metre yacht were members of his legal team and their families, who had been invited on the trip to celebrate the former Autonomy chief executive’s recent courtroom victory.

Lynch was acquitted of criminal charges by a jury in San Francisco in June, vindicating him after a 12-year legal battle over the software group’s $11bn sale to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

Jonathan Bloomer, chair of insurance group Hiscox and Morgan Stanley International, who appeared at the trial as a witness for the defence, was also on board and is missing, according to local Italian authorities and people familiar with the matter.

Christopher Morvillo of law firm Clifford Chance, who represented Lynch, is also missing. Six guests in total — including Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter — are missing and one member of the crew is confirmed dead. Read the full story.

• Lynch’s success story: The 59-year-old experienced some of the most extreme career highs and lows of any British technology entrepreneur.

• What caused the fatal sinking?: The combination of high winds and the yacht’s 72-metre mast could have triggered the disaster.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The UK publishes company insolvency statistics for England and Wales, as well as Scotland and Northern Ireland, while Europe releases inflation rate data.

• Companies: UK energy services company Wood Group, Canadian home-improvement retailer Lowe’s and US medical technology group Medtronic have results.

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Five more top stories

1. A Canadian state-backed export agency has been hit with losses after lending hundreds of millions of pounds to Thames Water, as the fallout from the crisis at Britain’s largest water company spreads. According to investors familiar with the trades, Export Development Canada has in recent weeks sold loans it made to the utility at deep discounts.

2. Kamala Harris is aiming to increase the US corporate tax rate to 28 per cent if she wins the White House in November, a move designed to raise government revenues from corporate America that is likely to draw criticism from business. Read the full report.

Sign up to our US Election Countdown newsletter, your essential guide to the twists and turns of the election.

3. Exclusive: China is unleashing billions of dollars of lending to technology start-ups and other small companies using their intellectual property as collateral as Beijing seeks to revive record low demand for loans and stimulate a lagging economy. Here’s what the rare financing tool entails.

4. The US reported progress towards a Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal yesterday, saying Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a “bridging proposal” that aimed to resolve differences between Israel and Hamas. Neri Zilber has more on Antony Blinken’s upbeat assessment.

5. Ofcom is ramping up hiring for its online safety workforce as concerns rise that the regulator lacks sufficient powers to curb the kinds of misinformation that sparked recent violent unrest in the UK. The media regulator plans to increase the number of people working on the Online Safety Act by 20 per cent to more than 550 by next March.

The Big Read

A well-trained workforce is essential to the UK economy, but while university places are almost unlimited — thanks to the availability of government-backed student loans for anyone who has the qualifications to take up a university place — apprenticeships and traineeships are in effect capped because of inadequate funding. Here’s how Labour’s prescription for closing the UK’s yawning vocational skills gap is a twin-track strategy.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Saudi wealth fund: As the kingdom reassesses its priorities and the $925bn Public Investment Fund shifts its focus to huge domestic commitments, the era of Saudi Arabia being perceived as a source of easy money is drawing to a close.

• Ukraine military briefing: Kyiv’s stunning operational success in Kursk has yet to deliver one crucial objective: diverting Russia’s manpower and easing pressure in the Donetsk region, writes Christopher Miller.

• Tech bullies: Political leaders must push back against aggression by powerful executives, whether through a childish meme or via apparently respectful communication, writes Marietje Schaake.

Chart of the day

Executives have sounded the alarm over Labour’s plan to axe allowances that enable companies to offset North Sea oil investment spending against their tax bill. “That is going to cause a very dramatic decline in investment and therefore production and jobs, and a big hit to energy security,” an analyst said.

Take a break from the news

The snoring room is an increasingly common feature in homes with space for such a luxury (though some would say necessity). Could the ‘secondary master bedroom’, as it is called euphemistically, increase the value of your home — and help save your relationship?

Additional contributions from David Hindley and Benjamin Wilhelm