A yacht accident has attracted international attention!
According to the latest news, Jonathan Blumer, a 70 year old well-known financial tycoon and chairman of Morgan Stanley International, has been confirmed dead.
So far, the number of deaths caused by the sinking of the British luxury yacht "Bayes" in a storm has reached 6, including renowned software technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch, also known as the "Bill Gates of Britain"; Jonathan Blumer, Chairman of Morgan Stanley International and his wife Judy; law firm lawyer Mowello and his wife Nida; and yacht chef Ricardo Thomas. Currently, Mike Lynch's 18-year-old daughter is still missing.
Financial expert confirms death
On August 22nd local time, multiple foreign media outlets including Sky News in the UK reported that Italian officials have confirmed that they have found the bodies of Jonathan Blumer, Chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife Judy, Chris Mowello, a partner at the London law firm Kingsoft, and his wife Nida, as well as software technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch. Previously, yacht chef Ricardo Thomas had been confirmed dead. The search for the last missing person, Hannah, daughter of Mike Lynch, has also begun by rescue personnel.
They were all guests on the luxury yacht "Bayes" and were celebrating the acquittal of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch in Jonathan Blumer's trial as a defense witness when the storm hit. In June of this year, a jury in San Francisco acquitted Mike Lynch of charges of deceiving HP into paying excessive fees for its software company Autonomy in 2011.
On August 22nd, the children of Jonathan Blumer and his wife said in a statement, "Our parents are amazing people who have inspired many, but most importantly, they first cared for and loved their families, spending time with their newborn grandchildren. The only comfort we feel is that they are still together after more than fifty years of wind and rain. This is unimaginable grief. Our only request now is to respect the privacy of our family
Before Jonathan Blumer's death, he served as the chairman of Morgan Stanley International and also as the chairman of insurance group Hiscox.
Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick said in a statement, "Jonathan Blumer's leadership and experience helped the company navigate the complex and transformative times of international business. He has been a friend and mentor to many, and we will all miss his wise advice and kind spirit
Aki Hussain, CEO of Hiscox Insurance Group, said, "It's an honor to meet Jonathan Blumer and to have benefited from his generosity and wisdom during his tenure as Hiscox Chairman over the past year. His extensive experience in our industry and the wider business world, combined with his personal values, makes him an outstanding Chairman and someone I'm proud to have met and worked with
At the same time, investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown (where Jonathan Blumer served as a director) described him as a "financial services giant".
According to publicly available media sources, after serving as a partner at Arthur Andersen for 20 years, Jonathan Blumer held senior positions at Prudential Plc from 1995 to 2005, initially as the company's CFO and later as CEO. After conflicting with shareholders over the decision to raise funds through a rights issue to help expand in the UK rather than Asia, he left the asset management company.
From 2006 to 2012, Jonathan Blumer became an operating partner at Cerberus Capital Management LP, a US private equity and alternative investor. Then, he began his career in investment portfolios and led the boards of directors of companies such as Arrow Global Group Limited and DWF Group Limited.
Jonathan Blumer became a recipient of the Order of the British Empire in 2017, in recognition of his work as a trustee and honorary treasurer of the children's charity NSPCC. Jonathan Blumer has been serving as the Chairman of Morgan Stanley's European operations since 2018. In 2023, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Hiscox, a British insurance company.
The super yacht suddenly sank
On the morning of August 19th local time, the British luxury yacht "Bayes" was hit by a storm in the northwest waters of Sicily, Italy, and the ship sank in a short period of time. The "Bayes" is a super yacht with a cost of 14 million pounds (approximately 129 million yuan), manufactured by Italian company Perini Navi. The name of the ship is taken from the research direction of Dr. Lynch's thesis, "Bayes' theorem". The captain is 55.9 meters long, 11.51 meters wide, and the mast is 75 meters high, ranking second in the world in height.
The investigation into this accident has been launched, and experts are confused about it. Large luxury ships like the "Bayes" with top-notch facilities and safety measures should have been able to withstand the storm's attack.
This accident received attention from multiple media outlets, largely due to Mike Lynch. Mike Lynch, 59 years old, is a legendary figure in the field of software technology and investment in the UK. In the 1980s, he founded his first company while pursuing a PhD, with a start-up capital of £ 2000 obtained through negotiations with others in a bar. In 1996, Mike Lynch co founded the software company Autonomy with others and quickly became one of the top 100 listed companies in the UK, making it the "technology leader" of Cambridge Science Park's "Silicon Swamp" (compared to Silicon Valley in the United States).
In 2011, Mike Lynch sold Autonomy to HP for $11 billion. In 2012, HP made a $8.8 billion write down on the value of Autonomy. In 2012, HP claimed that there were serious "false statements and accounting issues" on the part of Mike Lynch in this acquisition case, artificially inflating Autonomy's market value, demanding compensation of $5 billion in losses, and accusing Mike Lynch of exaggerating Autonomy's sales by approximately $700 million.
Mike Lynch has long denied these allegations and will be extradited from the UK to the US in 2023 for trial on HP charges. Until March this year, Mike Lynch and former Vice President of Finance at Autonomy, Wilt Chamberlain, were still on trial in San Francisco, USA, with over ten charges including telecommunications fraud and securities fraud.
In June 2024, after a lengthy trial, Mike Lynch was ultimately acquitted. At that time, Jonathan Blumer, who had previously led the Autonomy Audit Committee, appeared as a witness for Mike Lynch. According to Telegraph, Jonathan Blumer testified that Mike Lynch did not closely monitor Autonomy's accounting issues, but instead focused on "strategy, new products, new areas of focus, and potential acquisitions. Mike Lynch stated in a BBC interview afterwards that his "innocence" was earned at a "sky high lawyer's fee".
It is reported that when the storm hit, Mike Lynch and his wife, as well as financial and legal advisors, were celebrating the "hard won acquittal" on board.
According to Reuters, the bad news about Chamberlain was released almost simultaneously with the news of Lynch's disappearance. Several hours after the accident was reported, it was reported that Chamberlain was seriously injured in a car collision in Cambridgeshire, England last week and died after unsuccessful rescue efforts.