robert mercer took over james simons. james simons founded it.t we found is since the 1970's, he is been building private wealth fund in bermuda which is this tax haven in the atlantic ocean. it is worth at least $8 billion, probably more. it has been a acumen leading wealth year after year without facing any u.s. taxes. -- it has been accumulating wealth year after year without facing any u.s. taxes. he says he's going to give it to charity. i think it is proved to many that the super wealth have a different set of laws and practices that are out of reach for most people. amy: one of the filings leaked in the paradise papers shows how an attorney for renaissance technologies founder james simons asked bermuda's supreme court to hold hearings on restructuring his trust in private in order to prevent the simons name from being listed in the public docket. the lawyer writes -- "there has always been very great sensitivity as regards even the remotest possibility of publicity of the wealth of mr. simons and his family. mr. simons himself is exceptio

robert mercer.rcers. 71-year-old robert mercer as of yesterday, he's the ex-co-ceo of renaissance technology. this man is intensely private. he spent 20 years working at ibm before walking away from it in 1993, joining a long island investment management company renaissance technologies. now a hedge fund worth more than $50 billion. in 2014, a senate robeeport fou that the fund owed up to $6.8 billion from unpaid taxes dating back to '99. renaissance says it is disputing the tax bill and it is currently being reviewed by an independent branch of the irs. in that time period, bob and his daughter rebecca began donating big time to political candidates. they found a kindred spirit, steve bannon. they funded his website breitbart. enter the presidential campaign. the mercers initially cozied up to ted cruz who promised to abolish the irs if elected until donald trump's insurgent candidacy started to take off. the pair stood behind trump through the rockyist of times in his candidacy, including the acce

on breaking news, the "new york times" reports billionaire investor robert mercer a key.fuels, who fully funded steve bannon, his ally, is stepping down from his hedge fund renaissance technology where he is co-ceo. mercer said this morning he would be leaving his role effective new year's day 2018. he's also stepping down from the hedge fund's board, but he said he would be active on the fund's research side. he gave no reason for his exit, but he has received increased criticism for his support of bannon's agenda since president trump took office. he also said he would be selling his stake in breitbart to his daughters for personal reasons -- >> but his daughters are very personally involved. >> his daughter is as closely tied to this as robert mercer is. he is in dispute with the irs for back taxes, $6.8 billion. that's a big number. also think about this for a moment. steve bannon, every time you see him on the podium, rails against wall street, globalists, big money. regardless of how robert mercer feels politically, that's exactly how he made his money, is what he d

an update on robert mercer. eported on this guy last week with very close ties to president trump. mercer sent a letter to investors at his renaissance technologies fund announcing his intention to step down as chief co-executive in january. in the letter, mercer defended himself against, quote, mischaracterized statements made of him by the press. mercer also indicated that he will sell his ownership stake in breitbart media. >> yeah, to his daughters. not to somebody else. >> one and the same, who like himself are active in far right-wing political circles. our report last week highlighted how his hedge fund came under fire back in 2014 for accounting moves that may have let his firm dodge more than $6.8 billion in taxes. quick reminder, there's no irs head. that is going to affect things. in his letter to investors and employees, he really tried to distance himself from the alt-right and from steve bannon except, of course, rebekah mercer hosted a cocktail party to introduce steve bannon to the new york scene.

now according to buzzfeed, it is simons that has convinced robert mercer to step back because he is demoralizingthe clinton campaign. he is given millions more to other democrats in the senate and the house. as you say, he is storing billions of dollars offshore. as you said, it covers the spectrum to an extent, but it is the mainstream spectrum of u.s. politics and it is why i think a lot of liberals are disenchanted mainstream democrats. juan: i want to ask about the two russian state institutions with close ties to putin who are investing in facebook and twitter, but also through a business associate of jared kushner. >> so we knew the man you mention, a russian tech investor and also invested in a jared kushner company in the u.s.. what we did not know is a couple of his investments in facebook and twitter were funded by russian state banks, essentially. one is a bank and one is an investment vehicle. this is more information that came out in the paradise papers. twitter has an investment of $191 million funded by the bank in moscow that has close links to russian intelligence. facebook has

vonnie: robert mercer, the hedge fund titan that helped to elect donald trump come has been pushed outf renaissance technologies amid intense criticism. the founder of the tech fund was worried that mercer was hurting morale as political projects dragged the investment firm into the spotlight. this is more detailed for the story could joinin. joining us now for more explanation is that green light i zachary minor. tells exactly what going on here. >> the news today is that we learned last week that robert mercer come to co-chief executive officer at renaissance technologies was stepping down as co-ceo. we learned that this move was not totally on his own. jim simons, the founder and ,hairman of renaissance actually urged mr. mercer to take this step. this encourages the firm with them renaissance the tension that was coming because of mr. versus political projects were beginning to take a toll. vonnie: how much was it tension and how much was it investors pulling money? zachary: we know of one fund that actually voted to withdraw a small investment from renaissance amid all these conve

julia: he is positioning himself to be even more politically active. >> robert mercer is the coexecutiveer of mercer technologies, perhaps the most profitable hedge fund in the history of the world. he is the financer behind this brand of kind of insurgent republican nationlist insurgency that propelled donald trump to the presidency last year. carol: he is involved with steve bannon and breitbart. >> he has been bannon's atm for his projects. to take over the republican party, push it in a populist, nationalist direction. the bailout breitbart news when it was floundering and turned it into what it is today, this successful voice for this brand of conservatism. julia: what is going on here? why is he resigning from renaissance technologies and at the same time selling breitbart news? but he is selling it to somebody quite close to him. explain this specifically. >> when he made this announcement last week on november 2 that he was stepping and heom renaissance made thesef comments about his political views, even mind that this is a person who has never discussed his political views at a

robert mercer stepping down as co-ceo of january 2018.out he is also selling a stake in breitbart to his daughter. he is selling his breitbart stake to his daughter. this is bloomberg. ♪ vonnie: is just after 11:00 in new york. and 11:00 and hong kong. from new york, i'm vonnie quinn. david: i'm david gura. welcome to bloomberg markets. ♪ vonnie: here the top stories we are covering from the bloomberg and around the world. just minutes away from a major event on capitol hill as house republican leaders are set to unveil their long-awaited tax bill. we will bring that to you as soon as it happens. bank of england policymakers raise interest rates for the first time in a decade. they indicate that another increase is not imminent. plus, former fed vice chairman give us her perspective on the new gop tax plan and on president trump's imminent fed chair announcement. with lots going on today and micro stories throughout the morning as well let's get to abigail doolittle for a look at how markets are doing. 19 minutes into the trading day. sma

talk about robert mercer's ideology.from an employee who said he said outride racist things. what do they want out of getting control or getting influence in government? >> well, good question because one of the things that i think viewers need to know, all-americans need to know, is this family, this particular hedge fund manager who is worth so much money is trying to manipulate american politics and get what he wants but doesn't give interviews. he doesn't talk about what he wants. he's very reclusivreclusive. he's very secretive. so he's hiding what it is he really believes. i've tried endless numbers of times to get interviews with him and so has everybody else who covers this stuff but he doesn't speak. so what you have to do is piece together his views from talking to people who have known him for many years. what they tell you is he has views that are kind of off the chart, very far right, very conspiratorial minded. he believed that -- and told people that hillary clinton and bill clinton had literally murdered

toilet she was talking about actual republican antics actually right wing media the koch brothers robert mercer the actual people who influence right wing politics in the u.s. now. according to a content study done by performed by aaron maté a journalist for the intercept the majority of rachel maddow is content focuses on russia gate. and act as if. the narrative is like the is winnowing down you know it gets because there's no evidence there's no smoking gun there's no proof and they're there they're just seeking every little tidbit that comes across somehow it's russia gays become farcical and but as you point out the ratings are going higher and they are you know i it seems like this glenn beck you know introduced the idea of crying on television and then you know to him ik imitate alex jones and these are considered to be outside of mainstream by a big factor and yet now this is what the the part of the way that rachel maddow is now kind of bringing in the stylistics at the same time criticizing people like alex jones but there's there's just no there there right i mean what's the status n

carol: billionaire robert mercer is known for bankrolling the nationalist movement that elected presidentmp. julia: he may now be listening himself to be even more politically active. zach: mercer is the co-chief executive officer of renaissance technologies, the most profitable hedge fund in the history of the world. he is also kind of the financier behind this brand of insurgent republican nationalist insurgency that propelled donald trump to the presidency last year. carol: he was involved with steve bannon and breitbart big-time? zach: he met bannon in 2011 and has been his atm for various projects. he pushed it in a populist, nationalist direction. mercer basically bailed out breitbart news when it was floundering and turned it into what it is today which is this incredibly successful voice for this populist, nationalist random conservativism. julia: why is he resigning from renaissance technologies as the co ceo and at the same time selling breitbart news? he is selling it to someone quite close to him. just explain what is going on here specifically. zach: he made his announcement

billionaire investor and trump donor robert mercer is stepping down as head of his company, renaissance technologies, after a buzzfeed expose revealed the connections between the mercer-funded news outlet breitbart media and white nationalists and neo-nazis. the buzzfeed report revealed how breitbart's former tech editor, milo yiannopoulos, had collaborated closely with white nationalists to generate story ideas and even to edit the website's articles. in his letter, mercer tried to distance himself from yiannopoulos, as well as from steve bannon, breitbart's longtime head who also served as trump's former chief strategist. the united nations is warning of an unfolding humanitarian emergency at an australian refugee detention center on manus island in papua, new guinea. the australian government officially closed the detention center on tuesday, cutting off water and electricity, but hundreds of asylum-seekers are still at the center where food, water, and medicine is growing scarce. the asylum-seekers are refusing to leave, saying they fear for their lives if they go along with the gov

robert mercer of renaissance technologies is acceptisteppings co-ceo of the company. bob mercer got a lot of notoriety for being a big supporter and financial backer of not only president donald trump but also former white house chief strategist and current breitbart news executive steve bannon as well as other conservative causes. now, mercer's daughter, rebecca, has been very closely associated with the trump campaign during that particular phase. now, mercer is a man that made his mark early in his career for being a pioneer in computer science. he's also been a part of renaissance since 1993 at this point. mercer has been widely considered one of the most influential wall street folks in the world of politics, especially when it comes to those issues that lean towards the conservative right so, scott, a very big personality in not only wall street but washington politics as well stepping down from his roles as renaissance co-ceo. back over to you. >>> let's get back to stocks apple set to report earnings tonight after the bell this ahead of the iphone launch tomor

. >>> trump mega donor robert mercer stepping down from his hedge fund.omes amidst "vanity fair" reports that bannon is calling for big changes at the white house and how to deal with mueller. one of the people speaking out to "vanity fair" is sam nunberg. he says the president is in tv friendly terms, screwed. you may remember he was fired from the trump campaign on a range of media posts including ones using racial epithets. he was sued by donald trump himself although they originally settled. >> i won that suit, by the way. >> you settled. >> i settled. >> you did not win it in court. >> correct. >> i have more. but you're here. any time. in the "vanity fair" report, bannon worried about trump losing power. and nunberg says basically his performer boss, the president, can't go any lower. he is and then there's a word i can't say on television. with me, sam nunberg. we will get to all of this but let's start with why you're back in the news. you along with apparently steve bannon are saying, it is bad in the white house. >> very bad. does donald trump g

. >> the other day's big political news, robert mercer, renaissance technologies, big trump donor, steppinglling a stake in breitbart. he's planning a come back, he's going to look at starting up his own separate organization where he can raise money and spend more time on the causes he wants to push. >> i can't stand hearing spoken by the way, go ahead. >> the past, 142 years ago today, was a coup d'etat in the state of mississippi. the democrats of the state of mississippi overthrew the reconstruction government. it shows us today that we have to be vigilant about democracy. >> because there were blacks getting elected to high office in the senate and the congress, it was great. >> donald trump is going to demand of the president of china to pay up and stop exporting contaminated building materials. there's a state-owned company that owes hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to americans whose homes were destroyed by bad drywall and trump's going to say, you play by the rules in america as businesses do in china. >> caveat eliminate tore, buyer beware of chinese goods. we'll be ri

we know that robert mercer, who just stepped down from running renaissance technology, his hedge fundute with the irs to the tune of $7 billion in unpaid taxes. so there's a lot of concern when you make a choice like this, like president trump's choice for the new acting head of the irs, has a specialty in avoiding paying taxes and protecting those companies who do so. >> well, i'm not familiar with that particular choice. i don't interact with the irs much. again, we have a confirmation process for those very points to be made. but i don't think you can automatically exclude people simply because they have expertise in an area. actually, quite often, you want that expertise. so, look, whoever the lawyer is, he was working for his clients. i assume he did so in good faith. you know, lived up to his fiduciary obligations to the people paying him. but you go to work for the government of the united states, we're the people paying him. your client changes, so to speak, and you take an oath and you have an obligation to do the right thing. so, again, he'll go through the fire of a senate

the list of those in the paradise papers include billionaires such as the koch brothers and robert mercer and wells fargo, citigroup, and bank of america. it includes large multinational corporations like nike, apple, and exxonmobil, and it includes members of the trump administration like secretary of state rex tillerson, wilbur ross, gary cohen, and treasury secretary steve mnuchin. let's be clear, offshore tax evasion is a major problem, not just for the united states but for governments throughout the world, and this is really quite unbelievable, but in the year 2012 the tax justice network estimated that at least $21 trillion -- $21 trillion, a number almost beyond comprehension -- is being stashed in offshore tax havens around the world. imagine that. $21 trillion flowing into tax haven in the cayman island, luks 'emburg -- luxembourg to avoid taxes not only the united states, but great britain, france, germany, et cetera, et cetera. it's a funny thing about these guys. all of these billionaires, they love veterans and they love the military and they want to see us rebuild the infra

. >> as oppose to 7,000 tomorrow i >>> hello everyone, i am sue herrera, robert mercer is resigning from role. he would cut his ties to breitbart news and selling his estate to his daughter >>> a major interstate was shut down in alabama this morning take a look at that when an 18 wheeler caught on fire the truck driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries >>> the recall involves two styles and the plastic handle and the push button extinguisher, a full list dated back on 1973 could be found on kkidde website >> pope francis was marking catholics all souls day which commemorates the dead. he lays flowers on the graves among 770 dead in the cemetery that's the news at this hour, back to you, sumichelle >>> thank you, sue diana is joining us from dc. >> right now mortgage deduction is capped at $1 million in mortgage debt. the new tax plan cuts it in half only for new home purchases. if you already own your home, ru still capped at a million. there is still few people itemizing it currently about 21% of household claims the mortgage deduction, that could fall to 4% according to es

jeffrey: look, the republican party has been funded by david and charles koch, by robert mercer -- tomtical. you are correct, they have been funded by them. what they have been funded by is he won in wisconsin, he won in michigan, how does he win in wisconsin and michigan with these tax cuts? the effect of these tax cuts on the people of wisconsin and michigan? jeffrey: they will be devastating. tom: bizarre. jeffrey: everything is bizarre. they have run on legislation that is absolutely opposed by their own constituents. you go to any opinion survey, the public wants more taxes on corporations, it wants more taxes on the rich to read you get is the opposite because our politics is so corrupt right now. everybody knows it, not enough people say it. our politics is broken and corrupt. it is because billionaires fund the republican party and the congressmen even say it if you read the newspapers day by day. they say, we have to deliver for our donors, our donors will desert us. they don't say we have to deliver for the american people. they say we have to deliver for our donors. so let's

david and charles koch, sheldon add adelson, robert mercer.ealizes what's happening and then have a public debt for the next generation while china is zooming forward for global leadership. >> i don't speak for the republicans anymore but there has been a bi -- barack obama talked about tax reform and he talked about doing it with his republican friend tom coburn. there has been talk of reforming the tax code for a long time. >> yeah -- >> just not this specific proposal. >> this proposal is just a theft. real tax reform, you know, if we could have it -- >> looks like what? >> hmm? >> real tax reform looks like what? >> would recognize the incredible inequality in this country, the cheating by our companies again shown in the paradise papers. the biggest companies in this country, the most profitable, the highest market cap companies like apple and amazon, they're not paying taxes on their vast profits, they're all in bermuda and the cayman islands. that would be real tax reform. >> but wouldn't this incentivize these companies to bring their