Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer is among the missing after a tornado struck a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily on Monday. Billionaire tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, dubbed the “British Bill Gates,” as well as his daughter and three others, is also missing and presumed dead.
The disaster came weeks after Lynch was acquitted in the U.S. of fraud charges. Bloomer—who has served as Morgan Stanley’s chair for almost eight years and is also the chair of insurance group Hiscox, according to his LinkedIn profile—played a small role in the trial.
Lynch, 59, founded software company Autonomy in 1996 and sold it to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 for $11 billion. HP paid a 60% premium over Autonomy’s stock price, but just one year after the blockbuster deal, HP reported an $8.8 billion write-down, attributing over $5 billion of that to inflated revenue data from Autonomy. Lynch was charged with 16 counts of conspiracy and fraud, with one fraud charge later dismissed. In June, Lynch was acquitted of fraud and cleared of charges.
Bloomer, 70, served on Autonomy’s audit committee and as a non-executive on the company’s board in 2010. He also testified during Lynch’s trial, telling the court in May that Lynch was "more interested in the strategy, new products, new areas to look at, potential acquisitions," rather than looking at the financial side of the company.
The trip aboard the Bayesian was a celebration following the decades-long trial, but Bloomer and Lynch were declared missing after high winds and a vortex of water struck and capsized the superyacht. There were 22 passengers aboard the 180-foot sailing yacht, 15 of whom were rescued, and one who was declared dead. Italian emergency services brought Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who owned the yacht, to safety. Bloomer’s wife remains missing.
The Bayesian yacht accident has odd timing: It coincided with the death of Lynch’s co-defendant Stephen Chamberlain, who died after being hit by a car in Cambridgeshire, England, on Saturday.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event,” Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation.”
Hiscox senior independent director Colin Keogh will serve as interim chair, the company told Fortune. Morgan Stanley did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Bloomer’s tumultuous career
Prior to his tenure at Morgan Stanley and Hiscox, Bloomer was the CEO of insurance company Prudential Financial; he was ousted in 2005. The timing of Bloomer’s rising up the ranks was ill-timed, coinciding with the dotcom crash and 9/11, which sent Prudential’s share prices plummeting 40%.
During that time, Bloomer proposed buying U.S. insurer American General, a move that was largely doomed thanks to American International Group’s bid for the company that topped Prudential’s, as well as lack of investor confidence in the acquisition that sent Prudential’s shares tanking. Bloomer had to backtrack on the move, but through the takeover proposal, exposed Prudential’s relatively weak U.S. presence.
To make matters worse, Prudential’s internet banking arm, Egg, fell short of expectations, but Bloomer couldn't find an adequate buyer. Prudential eventually sold Egg to Citigroup for about $750 million in 2007, but the company estimated a $190 million operating loss from Egg, twice what was originally expected.
Investors’ outcry reached a fever pitch in 2004, when Bloomer surprise-launched a $1.3 billion rights issue in an effort to expand the firm’s U.K. business, despite having to assuage concerns the company needed to raise more capital to do so. The CEO was ousted less than a year later and replaced with HBO's finance chief Mark Tucker. Bloomer called it "part of the ups and downs of corporate life.”
"We have had to manage the company through difficult times and not everything has made us popular," he said at the time. "But my job has been to lead a transformation and Prudential is now set fair to deliver further substantial growth and returns."
