Once reclusive billionaire Robert Mercer sure was a busy boy Thursday morning, both stepping down as co-chief executive of a major hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies, and distancing himself from his political buddies Steve Bannon and Milo Yiannopoulos. The New York Times writes:
Mr. Mercer sent a letter to investors and pension advisers on Thursday morning in which he said he would step down. [...] In the letter, Mr. Mercer said he was stepping down from his post as of Jan. 1, 2018, and would also leave the hedge fund’s board. He said he would remain active on the research side of the hedge-fund firm, which makes trades using complex mathematical equations.
Mercer didn't give a reason for his decision in the letter, but a memo he penned to Renaissance employees proved more revealing. He expressed displeasure at coming under "a great deal of scrutiny" in the press and said he wanted to "correct some of the misinformation" that has circulated. He also announced he would be selling his stake in Breitbart News to his daughters.
Mercer's role as a benefactor of Breitbart News and Milo Yiannopoulos drew more attention, in particular, following a Buzzfeed News investigative piece showing the extensive ties between Breitbart and the white nationalist and neo-Nazi movements.
In his memo, Mercer went out of his way to sever ties with Yiannopoulos and to a lesser extent, Bannon.
The press has also intimated that my politics marches in lockstep with Steve Bannon's. I have great respect for Mr. Bannon, and from time to time I do discuss politics with him. However, I make my own decisions with respect to whom I support politically. Those decisions do not always align with Mr. Bannon's.
Without individuals thinking for themselves, society as a whole will struggle to distinguish the signal of truth from the correlated noise of conformity. I supported Milo Yiannopoulos in the hope and expectation that his expression of views contrary to the social mainstream and his spotlighting of the hypocrisy of those who would close down free speech in the name of political correctness would promote the type of open debate and freedom of thought that is being throttled on many American college campuses today. But in my opinion, actions of and statements by Mr. Yiannopoulos have caused pain and divisiveness undermining the open and productive discourse that I had hoped to facilitate. I was mistaken to have supported him, and for several weeks have been in the process of severing all ties with him.
For personal reasons, I have also decided to sell my stake in Breitbart News to my daughters.
Mercer's daughter Rebekah is a well-known right winger. The two are often mentioned in tandem in articles and were dubbed “The blow-it-all-up billionaires” in a Huffington post piece earlier this year. Last year, a Politico profile labeled Rebekah the “most powerful woman in GOP politics."
Again, it's unclear whether the spotlight just got too hot for a guy who in the recent past lived a pretty posh life mostly under the radar of American politics, or if something deeper is going on here. Yiannopoulos, in particular, has become a lightning rod and Mercer clearly doesn't want to be associated with him anymore. Who knows if that's for personal, political, or financial reasons—or perhaps all three.