In 2011, which technology company acquired Autonomy Corporation?

In 2011, Hewlett-Packard acquired Autonomy Corporation.

HP announced the purchase on August 18, 2011, offering $42.11 per share for the British software company. The deal valued Autonomy at roughly $11.7 billion and represented a premium of about 79% over its market price. HP viewed Autonomy’s enterprise-search and information-management technology as a way to expand its higher-margin software business.

The acquisition closed on October 3, 2011, with HP reporting that it had obtained about 87.3% of Autonomy’s shares for approximately $10.2 billion. Autonomy subsequently became part of HP’s software operations. The transaction was controversial from the start because analysts and investors considered the valuation unusually high and questioned HP’s strategic direction.

The deal became even more contentious in 2012, when HP accused former Autonomy executives of accounting improprieties and wrote down $8.8 billion related to the acquisition. Autonomy’s former management denied wrongdoing, and later legal proceedings examined the competing allegations. Thus, Hewlett-Packard is the canonical answer to who acquired Autonomy, even though the deal’s aftermath remains a major cautionary tale in technology mergers.