I think he wanted to cement his position as CEO of a big company, and looked for a deal that would achieve it, hoping to make a big splash - there was back then some hype around Autonomy, let's not forget it, about its data analytics technologies, which looked the next gold rush.
Autonomy understood he was nowhere near the man he wanted to be, and they could sold him a bridge - and Apotheker rammed the deal through HP without a second thought. Of course he was not alone, as HP was eager to transition to something else - whatever it was. Especially those who chose him as a CEO - even if he came from SAP, he really didn't look what HP needed.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
