They told me I was born without fingerprints,’ Lynch said with a wry smile. ‘Don’t you think I’d make a great criminal?’

Mike Lynch’s death was a tragic end to an extraordinary life. Known as the British Bill Gates, he rose from humble beginnings to found an empire worth billions, only for it to collapse in acrimony. A maverick outsider who became a doyen of British business and a government adviser, he was extradited to the US in handcuffs to take on his accuser, the American corporate giant Hewlett-Packard. Facing seemingly impossible odds, he somehow won his fight for freedom.

Drawing on extensive research and exclusive access to key sources, Times Business Technology Editor and columnist Katie Prescott has followed the tech billionaire’s dramatic rise and fall, through to his tragic death. His story is a morality tale of money, power and deception, exposing the fault lines and subterfuge of high-stakes personal and corporate clashes. Now, she joins us to reflect on Lynch’s legacy and teach us the lessons of a unique life that serves both as warning and inspiration.

Speakers:

Katie Prescott is technology business editor at The Times and a weekly columnist for the newspaper’s award-winning business section. Katie brings readers the key stories across the fast-changing landscape of tech, media and telecoms. A regular on Times Radio, she is a familiar voice to millions of listeners after a decade reporting for the BBC and presenting the business news on Radio 4’s Today Programme. At the BBC, Katie worked across all the corporation’s major news outlets on TV and radio, explaining and analysing the tumultuous changes wrought by Covid-19, the European debt crisis and new technology, in addition to the challenges of sustainability and climate change.

Zing Tsjeng is an author, journalist and broadcaster. She is the former Editor in Chief of VICE and wrote the Forgotten Women book series, now out in anthology hardback on Brazen.