font size="2">Hewlett-Packard's board had approved the previously announced split of the company into two separate listed entities - computers and printers, and corporate hardware and services. At the same time, Mike Lynch, the founder of U.K. software company Autonomy, sued HP over an accounting fraud. Hewlett-Packard said on Thursday that it expected its split into Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co and HP Inc to be completed on Nov. 1. A day later, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, comprising the corporate hardware and service business, will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "HPE".

Hewlett-Packard announced the split in October 2014 after years of struggling to adjust to the post-PC computing era.

In related news, Mike Lynch accused Hewlett-Packard of damaging his career with false statements in the fallout from the two companies’ $10-billion merger that has been marred by a massive writedown and allegations of accounting fraud.

Lynch filed a lawsuit in London Thursday seeking at least $160 million, saying that he had suffered "significant reputational damage and been unable to pursue business opportunities."

The lawsuit is the latest exchange in a dispute between Lynch and Hewlett-Packard that has been going on for nearly three years. Hewlett-Packard acquired Autonomy in 2011 in a deal valued at more than $10 billion and wrote down $8.8 billion on its value the following year.

Hewlett-Packard in March sued Lynch and another executive in the same court for $5.1 billion, saying Autonomy officials gave an over optimistic valuation of the software maker’s financial health before the merger.