Renaissance Technologies leader to step down - report
Robert Mercer and the team at Renaissance are possibly the greatest investors alive. They were at the forefront for quant investing and built a juggernaut.
The hedge fund has produced $55 billion in the last 28 years, making it $10 billion more profitable than Dalio or Soros and it had less money under management.
It's Medallion flagship fund has pumped out returns often north of 80% before fees. $1,000 invested at the outset in 1988 would be worth $13.8 million today.
Fees were ratcheted up has high as 5$ a AUM and 44% of profits and the money still kept rolling in.
The company has more than 80 PhDs but the initial brains behind the team where Jim Simons and Robert Mercer.
Simons retired a few years ago but Mercer has remained with the company. The 71-year-old, however, has taken a deep interest in politics and is a massive -- perhaps the biggest -- Republican fundraiser. His daughter is also heavily involved.
Reports say he turned his genius towards elections recently and is the brains behind Republican (and perhaps Brexit) data mining, including Cambridge Analytica and a stake in Breitbart News. That's a hint of what he might be doing next.
Bloomberg reports that co-CEO Peter Brown will take over.
More on Mercer in a profile here. He's a real enigma.
Update: Here's a sense of how he feels politically, from his statement.
