Billionaire Investor Robert Mercer To Step Down From Firm, Selling Stake In Breitbart

[Dulcinea]

Wealthy donor Robert Mercer, whose money helped elect President Trump, is stepping down from the giant hedge fund he co-heads and is selling his stake in the conservative website Breitbart News to his daughters.

In a letter sent Thursday to his investors at Renaissance Technologies LLC, Mercer, 71, defended his brand of libertarian politics, but also expressed regret for his support of controversial former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos.

Mercer did not step down quietly. Instead, he reaffirmed his political beliefs, saying people are better off when they "assume responsibility for their own actions, and spend the fruits of their own labor as they see fit."

He wrote that individuals will "advance society much more effectively than will a collection of experts who are confident in their knowledge of what is best for everyone else." But Mercer also changed his mind on one thing, saying he was wrong to support Yiannopoulos who has been linked to white nationalist causes.

http://www.npr.org/2017/11/02/561634551/billionaire-investor-robert-mercer-to-step-down-from-firm-selling-stake-in-breit

[leftofcool]

1. He's getting ready for his 2020 run

[Merlot]

2. Or he's getting indicted?

I think you're more right than the people on the "indictment prediction" thread. But still, I'd like to see him indicted.

[ATL Ebony]

3. I'm in agreement -- he's predicting an indictmentwith his name on it.

[Hortensis]

5. Interestingly, his Renaissance hedge fund is doing EXTREMELY well

and has attracted a lot of investors since Mercer's own notoriety has grown. It could possibly be that big investors want him off the masthead (and working on technical issues behind the scenes) anyway, even though he's supposedly severing connection with white supremacist Milo Yiannopoulos and pretend-severing from Breitbart.

But it's also possible that further disgrace is expected. Mercer's principal owner of Cambridge Analytica, of course.

From Newsday:

Last week, congressional probes of a Russian role the campaign spawned news about the Mercer-financed firm Cambridge Analytica, which mined web data for the campaign.

By several accounts, Cambridge CEO Alexander Nix contacted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange last year regarding creation of a searchable database of hacked Hillary Clinton emails.

Assange, who published thousands of the embarrassing emails, tweeted: I can confirm an approach by Cambridge Analytica [prior to November last year] and can confirm that it was rejected by WikiLeaks.”

A NYT article points out it's not clear when this took place. Cambridge Analytica was working to elect Ted Cruz into June 2016. Mercer then switched to electing Rump. Not that conspiring against the US would be okay if done on Cruz's behalf.

[kimbutgar]

4. He is probably getting redemption requests from big donors and sees that his fund is getting

Affected. These hedge fund guys gets a percentage of profits and maybe his unmasking of him being behind Breitbart and Cambridge analytica is making him uneasy.

[Lucky Luciano]

8. Actually they netted an extra billion in assets last quarter.

Their performance is simply too good. The university endowments that have been pressured have said fuck off withvregard to redemptions so far.

[stuffmatters]

6. Timing so close to 1st Mueller indictments. Mercer (Cambridge Analytica) up to his eyeballs

Knows he and his Cambridge Analytica face huge public exposure in upcoming revelations, indictments of Mueller's investigation.

Mercer is the quintessential RW paranoid, antisocial billionaire. He's been able to thrive in a bubble insulated from
the real world by his obscene wealth, bigotry, power. He's not going to do well on a public witness stand against a prosecutor
representing the people, the real world.

Mercer's so delusional that he probably believes resigning from CA & cutting ties with his propaganda machine now are going to
keep him & CA out of Mueller's investigation. Good luck with that, Mercer.

[Merlot]

9. re: mercer's so delusional - aren't they all?

They think no one will notice when a $300 million contract gets a no bid award to their under qualified cronies. Or when they take a bunch of private planes at gov't expense. Or when they go to Ft. Knox to "check the gold." Or when they have shady business dealings with russians which are a conflict of interest with their job.

Being in a delusional bubble is part of the make up of these people. Occasionally they are held accountable, but years of getting away with illegal or unethical stuff has made them view themselves as above the law.

Then one day the bubble bursts...just look at how many have fallen with the harassment scandals.

[stuffmatters]

10. Agreed & I hope hope for your prediction!

[SunSeeker]

7. He's been wrong about a whole lot more than Milo.

May he burn in Hell.

[Kablooie]

11. He could be one of the 17 sealed indictments