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{{Short description|American computer scientist, businessman and funder of right-wing causes}}{{other people|Robert or Bob Mercer|Robert Mercer (disambiguation)}}

factoids

|birth_place = San Jose, California|death_date = |death_place = University of New Mexico>University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (Bachelor of Science)University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign>University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy>PhD)ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL >DATE=MAY 25, 1967 PAGE=13, Rebekah Mercer>Rebekah, Jennifer, and Heather Sue}}Robert Leroy Mercer (born July 11, 1946) is an American hedge fund manager, computer scientist, and political donor. Mercer was an early artificial intelligence researcher and developer and is the former co-CEO of the hedge fund company Renaissance Technologies.NEWS, Cadwalladr, Carole, Carole Cadwalladr,www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy, The great British Brexit robbery: How our democracy was hijacked, The Guardian, 17 May 2017, NEWS,www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/sh/wex94ODaUs/trump-robert-mercer-billionaire, Reclusive U.S. billionaire Robert Mercer helped Trump win the presidency — but what does he really want?, Boag, Keith, Mayer, Andre, CBC News, 2018-01-22, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Mercer played a key role in the campaign for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union by donating data analytics services to Nigel Farage.NEWS,www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy, The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked, The Guardian, May 7, 2017, Carole, Cadwalladr, The article has a disclaimer stating: “This article is the subject of legal complaints on behalf of Cambridge Analytica LLC and SCL Elections Limited.” He has also been a major funder of organizations supporting right-wing political causes in the United States, such as Breitbart News, the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica,WEB,nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/book-excerpt-mindf-ck-by-christopher-wylie.html, How I Helped Hack Democracy, Wylie, Christopher, 2019-10-04, Intelligencer, en-us, 2020-03-26, and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for president.NEWS, Swan, Jonathan, Billionaire father and daughter linked to Trump shake-up,thehill.com/homenews/campaign/291772-billionaire-father-and-daughter-linked-to-trump-shakeup/, 18 August 2016, The Hill, 17 August 2016, He is the principal benefactor of the Make America Number 1 super PAC.WEB,www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cmte=C00575373&cycle=2016, Keep the Promise I/Make America Number 1 Contributors, 2016 cycle, 2016-11-18, OpenSecrets, 2016-11-18, In November 2017, Mercer announced he would step down from Renaissance Technologies and sell his stake in Breitbart News to his daughters.NEWS,www.npr.org/2017/11/02/561634551/billionaire-investor-robert-mercer-to-step-down-from-firm-selling-stake-in-breit, Billionaire Investor Robert Mercer To Step Down From Firm, Selling Stake In Breitbart, NPR, 2017-11-03, He was the majority owner of SCL Group, a self-described “global elections management agency”,WEB,sclgroup.cc/, 2021-07-31, SCL Group home page, 4 May 2016,web.archive.org/web/20160504171901/https://sclgroup.cc/, 2016-05-04, before it was dissolved in 2018. In 2021, Mercer was involved in possibly the largest tax settlement in U.S. history, as he, James Simons, and other executives at the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies were ordered to pay as much as $7 billion to the IRS in back taxes.NEWS, Rubin, Gregory Zuckerman and Richard, 2021-09-02, James Simons, Robert Mercer, Others at Renaissance to Pay Up to $7 Billion to Settle Tax Probe, en-US, Wall Street Journal,www.wsj.com/articles/james-simons-robert-mercer-others-at-renaissance-to-pay-7-billion-to-settle-tax-probe-11630617328, 2021-09-02, 0099-9660,

Early life and education

Mercer grew up in New Mexico. He developed an early interest in computers and in 1964 attended a National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia where he learned to program a donated IBM computer. He went on to get a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from the University of New Mexico. While working on his degree, he had a job at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base writing programs where, though he felt he produced good work, he felt it was not optimized. He later said the experience left him with a “jaundiced view” of government-funded research. He earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1972.

Career

Mercer joined IBM Research in the fall of 1972 and worked at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York, where he helped develop Brown clustering, a statistical machine translation technique, as part of a speech recognition and translation research program led by Frederick Jelinek and Lalit Bahl.WEB, Bob Mercer, Peter Brown, Twenty Years of Bitext,cs.jhu.edu/~post/bitext/, cs.jhu.edu, 9 April 2017, transcript, 18 October 2013, NEWS, Patterson, Scott, Pioneering Fund Stages Second Act,online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703494404575082000779302566, 1 December 2014, In June 2014, Mercer received the Association for Computational Linguistics Lifetime Achievement Award for this work.WEB, Robert L. Mercer receives the 2014 ACL Lifetime Achievement Award,www.aclweb.org/portal/node/2502, aclweb.org, Association for Computational Linguistics, ACL, March 27, 2018, videoIn 1993, Mercer joined hedge fund Renaissance Technologies after being recruited by executive Nick Patterson. The founder of Renaissance, James Harris Simons, a mathematician, preferred to hire mathematicians, computer scientists, and physicists rather than business school students or financial analysts.WEB, The 40 Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers,www.forbes.com/pictures/mdg45ghlg/robert-mercer-2/, Forbes, 12 September 2015, BOOK, Mallaby, Sebastian, More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite, 2011, Penguin Press, 978-0143119418,books.google.com/books?id=JklJ0ZoJtmAC&q=%22robert+mercer%22+ibm&pg=PT329, Mercer and a former colleague from IBM, Peter Brown, became co-CEOs of Renaissance when Simons retired in 2009. Renaissance’s main fund, Medallion, earned 39% per year on average from 1989 to 2006.NEWS, Mider, Zachary, What Kind of Man Spends Millions to Elect Ted Cruz?,www.bloomberg.com/politics/features/2016-01-20/what-kind-of-man-spends-millions-to-elect-ted-cruz-, 28 January 2016, Bloomberg L.P., 20 January 2016, A bipartisan Senate panel estimated in 2014 that Medallion investors underpaid their taxes by some $6.8 billion over more than a decade by masking short-term gains as long-term returns.NEWS,www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/renaissance-explores-settlement-as-irs-seeks-billions-in-taxes, Renaissance Explores Settlement as IRS Seeks Billions in Taxes, Bloomberg, WEB,www.businessinsider.com.au/mercer-trump-renaissance-technologies-billions-tax-bill-2017-4, The Trump administration may have to decide whether to press one of his biggest backers on a contested $6.8 billion tax bill, Bondarenko, Veronika, 2017-04-05, Business Insider Australia, en, 2019-07-30, As of 2014, Renaissance managed $25 billion in assets. In November 2017, Mercer announced that he would be stepping down from his position at Renaissance Technologies. The decision was taken after the hedge fund faced a backlash over Mercer’s political activism.NEWS,www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/business/robert-mercer-renaissance.html, Robert Mercer, Bannon Patron, Is Leaving Helm of $50 Billion Hedge Fund, Goldstein, Matthew, 2017-11-02, The New York Times, 2017-11-03, Kelly, Kate, 0362-4331, Confessore, Nicholas, Mercer appears in the Paradise Papers as a director of eight Bermuda companies, some of which appear to have been used to legally avoid US taxes.WEB,www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/07/steve-bannon-bermuda-robert-mercer, Offshore cash helped fund Steve Bannon’s attacks on Hillary Clinton, Jon, Swaine, 7 November 2017, The Guardian,

Political activities and views

In 2015, The Washington Post called Mercer one of the ten most influential billionaires in politics.NEWS, Phillips, Amber, The 10 most influential billionaires in politics,www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/21/the-10-most-influential-billionaires-in-politics/, 22 September 2015, The Washington Post, 21 September 2015, Since 2006, Mercer has donated about $34.9 million to Republican political campaigns in the US.NEWS, Bowers, John, A hedge fund house divided: Renaissance Technologies,www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/06/a-hedge-fund-house-divided-renaissance-technologies/, OpenSecrets, 7 June 2016, Mercer has given $750,000 to the Club for Growth, $2 million to American Crossroads,NEWS, Yang, Jia Lynn, Here’s who pays the bills for Ted Cruz’s crusade,www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/11/heres-who-pays-the-bills-for-ted-cruzs-crusade/, October 11, 2013, The Washington Post, October 11, 2013, and $2.5 million to Freedom Partners Action Fund.NEWS, Vogel, Kenneth, Koch donors uncloaked,dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=465AB626-A4C2-41F6-8790-0A41197593F4, 12 September 2015, Politico, October 14, 2014, dead,dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=465AB626-A4C2-41F6-8790-0A41197593F4," title="web.archive.org/web/20151015060928dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=465AB626-A4C2-41F6-8790-0A41197593F4,">web.archive.org/web/20151015060928dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=465AB626-A4C2-41F6-8790-0A41197593F4, 15 October 2015, In 2010, he financially supported fringe biochemistNEWS, The Grandfather Of Alt-Science,fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-grandfather-of-alt-science/, FiveThirtyEight, Art Robinson’s unsuccessful efforts to unseat Peter DeFazio in Oregon’s 4th congressional district.NEWS, Mapes, Jeff, Wealthy financier is mysterious funder of ads attacking DeFazio,blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2010/10/wealthy_financier_is_mysteriou.html, October 11, 2013, The Oregonian, October 16, 2010, In the 2013-2014 election cycle, Mercer donated the fourth largest amount of money among individual donors and the second most among Republican donors.Mercer joined the Koch brothers’ conservative political donor network after the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC, but Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah Mercer, decided to establish their own political foundation. The Mercer Family Foundation, run by Rebekah, has donated to a variety of conservative causes.NEWS, Delevigne, Lawrence, Have Mercer! The money man who helped the GOP win,www.cnbc.com/id/102147424, CNBC, 8 November 2014, 1 December 2014, Mercer has donated to The Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Media Research Center, Reclaim New York, GAI, and Citizens for Self-Governance.Zuckerman, Gregory, Keach Hagey, Scott Patterson and Rebecca Ballhaus, “Meet the Mercers: A Quiet Tycoon and His Daughter Become Power Brokers in Trump’s Washington” (subscription), The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-08.NEWS, Stanley-Becker, Isaac, Romm, Tony, April 22, 2020, The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping., The Washington Post,www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-conservative-networks-backing-anti-quarantine-protests/2020/04/22/da75c81e-83fe-11ea-a3eb-e9fc93160703_story.html, In 2013, Mercer was shown data by former Jimmy Carter pollster Patrick Caddell, who has been critical of top Democrats, and commissioned more research from Caddell that showed “voters were becoming alienated from both political parties and mainstream candidates”.Mercer was the main financial backer of the Jackson Hole Summit, a “shadow” conference (not to be confused with a similarly named Federal Reserve conference) that took place in Wyoming in August 2015 to advocate for the gold standard. He has also supported Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, Fred Kelly Grant (an Idaho activist who encourages legal challenges to environmental laws), a campaign for the death penalty in Nebraska, and funded ads in New York critical of the so-called “ground-zero mosque”. According to associates interviewed by Bloomberg, Mercer is concerned with the monetary and banking systems of the United States, which he believes are in danger from government meddling. Mercer is a major source of funds of Breitbart News.NEWS, How Business Titans, Pop Stars and Royals Hide Their Wealth,www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/world/offshore-tax-havens.html, 7 November 2017, The New York Times, 7 Nov 2017, He gave at least $10 million to the media outlet, according to Newsweek.WEB, Kutner, Max, Meet Robert Mercer, the mysterious billionaire benefactor of Breitbart, Newsweek,www.newsweek.com/2016/12/02/robert-mercer-trump-donor-bannon-pac-523366.html, November 21, 2016, March 6, 2017, In 2015 Mercer also gave $400,000 to Black Americans for a Better Future, a conservative think tank led by Raynard Jackson.WEB, Schwarz, Jon, “Black Americans for a Better Future” Super PAC 100% Funded by Rich White Guys,theintercept.com/2016/01/28/black-americans-for-a-better-future-super-pac-100-funded-by-rich-white-guys/, 2 June 2018, The Intercept, 28 January 2016, Since 2017 Mercer has donated $87,100 to the same Super PAC.WEB,www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?two_year_transaction_period=2018&committee_id=C00567784&contributor_name=robert+mercer&min_date=01%2F01%2F2017&max_date=01%2F31%2F2018, Federal Election Commission Mercer’s Donations to Black Americans For A Better Future,

Brexit

Mercer was an activist in the campaign for the United Kingdom to end its membership of the European Union, also known as Brexit. Andy Wigmore, communications director of Leave.EU, said that Mercer donated the services of data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica to Nigel Farage, the head of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). The firm was able to advise Leave.EU through its ability to harvest data from people’s Facebook profiles in order to target them with individualized persuasive messages to vote for Brexit. It has been reported that Cambridge Analytica also has undisclosed links to Canadian digital firm AggregateIQ, which also played a pivotal role in Dominic Cummings’ Vote Leave campaign, where he delivered an estimated one billion individually curated targeted adverts to voters in the lead up to the Brexit referendum, in contravention of established voting rules. Neither Vote Leave nor Leave.EU informed the UK electoral commission of the donation despite the fact that a law demands that all donations valued over £7,500 must be reported. In 2018, the Electoral Commission found the Vote Leave campaign guilty of breaking electoral law.NEWS,www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/robert-mercer-brexit-nigel-farage-donald-trump-breitbart-facebook-advertisement-cambridge-analytica-a7600041.html, Hedge-fund billionaire and Donald Trump backer ‘played key role in Brexit campaign’, 2017-02-26, The Independent, 2017-02-27,

2016 U.S. election

Mercer was one of the biggest donors in the 2016 U.S. elections, donating $22.5 million to Republican candidates and PACs. Mercer was a major financial supporter of the 2016 presidential campaign of Ted Cruz,NEWS, Lichtblau, Eric, Eric Lichtblau, Stevenson, Alexandra, Hedge-Fund Magnate Robert Mercer Emerges as a Generous Backer of Cruz, The New York Times, April 10, 2015,mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/11/us/politics/hedge-fund-magnaterobert-mercer-emerges-as-a-generous-backer-of-ted-cruz.html, April 15, 2015, contributing $11 million to a super PAC associated with the candidate.NEWS, Lichtblau, Eric, ‘Super PACs’ Spent Millions Before Candidates Announced, Filings Show,www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/us/politics/super-pacs-spent-millions-before-candidates-announced-filings-show.html, 12 September 2015, The New York Times, July 31, 2015, Mercer was a major supporter of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for president. Mercer and his daughter Rebekah helped to obtain senior roles in the Trump campaign for Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway.NEWS, Confessore, Nicholas, How One Family’s Deep Pockets Helped Reshape Donald Trump’s Campaign,www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/us/politics/robert-mercer-donald-trump-donor.html, 18 August 2016, The New York Times, 18 August 2016, Rebekah worked with Conway on the Cruz Super-PAC Keep the Promise in the 2016 Republican primaries. Mercer also financed a Super PAC, Make America Number One, which supported Trump’s campaign. Nick Patterson, a former colleague of Mercer’s said in 2017 that Trump would not have been elected without Mercer’s support.MAGAZINE, Mayer, Jane, 19 March 2017,www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency, The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon Behind the Trump Presidency, The New Yorker,

Race relations

Mercer has said that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark federal statute arising from the civil rights movement of the 1960s, was a major mistake. In 2017, David Magerman, a former Renaissance employee, alleged in a lawsuit that Mercer had said that African Americans were economically better off before the civil rights movement, that white racists no longer existed in the United States, and that the only racists remaining were black racists.

In popular culture

Mercer was portrayed by actor Aden Gillett in the 2019 HBO and Channel 4 produced drama entitled (Brexit: The Uncivil War).NEWS,www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/brexit-uncivil-war-review-benedict-cumberbatch-gripping-watch/, Brexit: The Uncivil War review: Benedict Cumberbatch is superb in this thrilling romp through the referendum, Bennett, Asa, 28 December 2018, The Daily Telegraph, 8 January 2019, en-GB, 0307-1235, NEWS,www.ft.com/content/49f2b912-0f67-11e9-acdc-4d9976f1533b, Vote Leave’s Matthew Elliott on Channel 4’s Brexit: The Uncivil War, Financial Times, Matthew Elliott, Matthew Elliott (political strategist), 4 January 2019, Screenwriter James Graham has turned the campaign into a compelling story — and nailed my mannerisms,

Personal life

Mercer and his wife Diana Lynne Dean have three daughters:NEWS, Vogel, Kenneth, Schrekinger, Ben, The most powerful woman in GOP politics,www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-rebekah-mercer-227799, 7 September 2016, Politico, 7 September 2016, Jennifer (“Jenji“), Rebekah (“Bekah“), and Heather Sue. Rebekah runs the Mercer Family Foundation. The three Mercer daughters formerly owned a bakery called Ruby et Violette.NEWS,www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/28/trump-megadonor-rebekah-mercer-makes-terrible-cookies-215187, Trump Megadonor Rebekah Mercer Makes Terrible Cookies, Politico, May 28, 2017, Sara, Dickerman, Mercer plays competitive poker and owns an HO scale model railroad. In 2009, Mercer filed suit against RailDreams Custom Model Railroad Design, alleging that RailDreams overcharged him by $2 million.NEWS, Marzulli, John, Hedge fund hotshot Robert Mercer files lawsuit over $2M model train, accusing builder of overcharge,www.nydailynews.com/news/hedge-fund-hotshot-robert-mercer-files-lawsuit-2m-model-train-accusing-builder-overcharge-article-1.368624, October 11, 2013, New York, Daily News (New York), Daily News, March 31, 2009, Mercer lives at “Owl’s Nest” mansion in Head of the Harbor, New York. He has commissioned a series of yachts, all named Sea Owl.NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/mercer-bannon/, The Mercers and Stephen Bannon: How a populist power base was funded and built. The wealthy GOP donors and Trump’s chief strategist collaborated on at least five ventures., Matea Gold, March 17, 2017, The Washington Post, March 19, 2017, The most recent one is 203 feet (62 metres) in length, and has a pirate-themed playroom for Mercer’s grandchildren and a chandelier of Venetian glass.In Florida, Mercer built a large stable and horse riding center. He has acquired one of the country’s largest collections of machine guns and historical firearms, including a weapon Arnold Schwarzenegger wielded in The Terminator.In 2013, Mercer was sued by several members of his household staff, who accused him of docking their wages and failing to pay overtime compensation.NEWS, Smythe, Christie, Renaissance Co-CEO Mercer Sued by Home Staff for Over Pay,www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-17/renaissance-co-ceo-mercer-sued-by-home-staff-for-over-pay.html, October 11, 2013, Bloomberg L.P., Bloomberg, July 17, 2013, subscription, The lawsuit was settled, according to a lawyer who represented the staff members.Mercer’s net worth is estimated to be hundreds of millions of dollars, and he is often referred to as a billionaire.NEWS, Roux, Pamela, Is Trump Backer Robert Mercer a Billionaire? I Tried to Find Out, Bloomberg.com, April 25, 2017,www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-25/is-trump-backer-robert-mercer-a-billionaire-i-tried-to-find-out, September 14, 2018, WEB, Robert Mercer leaves hedge fund, sells stake in Breitbart, Fox News, November 2, 2017,www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/11/02/robert-mercer-leaves-hedge-fund-sells-stake-in-breitbart.html, September 14, 2018,

References

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External links

• Mider, Zachary (2018 March 28). “Robert Mercer’s Secret Adventure as a New Mexico Cop.” Bloomberg Businessweek.

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