A PRO-TRUMP BILLIONAIRE JUST TOOK A BIG STAKE IN TIME INC.

[Judi Lynn]

Is Robert Mercer plotting a takeover of the magazine?

BY BESS LEVIN
JULY 5, 2017 6:34 PM


David Pecker, the C.E.O. of American Media, which owns The National Enquirer, isn’t the only pro-Trump corporate titan with designs on Time Inc. and its weekly newsmagazine. The New York Post reports that Bob Mercer, the billionaire president of quant fund Renaissance Technologies, is also interested in the company—although what that interest amounts to remains unknown. Here’s what we do know: RenTec purchased nearly 2.5 million shares of Time Inc. in the first quarter of the year, according to a regulatory filing flagged by the Post—a “2.51 percent stake valued on March 31 at $48.1 million.” That’s not enough for any kind of takeover, but certainly sufficient for Mercer to begin throwing around his weight if he wants to be more of an activist investor—or if he wants to have a voice in who does eventually acquire the embattled media company.

Here are a few other things we know about Bob Mercer. He is, along with his daughter Rebekah, credited with helping turn around Donald Trump’s campaign, pouring millions into the presidential race and recommending former Breitbart News chairman Stephen Bannon and Kellyanne Conway to top posts on the campaign. Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis firm that worked for the Trump campaign, is largely funded by Mercer, as is Breitbart, in which he and his daughter are part owners. He has also, in recent months, achieved additional notoriety for his very public feud with an ex-Renaissance employee who is currently suing him, alleging that he was fired for complaining to The Wall Street Journal that Mercer is, among other scurrilous accusations, a racist with notably low opinions of the Civil Rights Act.

Anyway, RenTec acquiring shares of Time does not necessary mean that Mercer wants to buy the company. And RenTec’s billionaire chairman, Jim Simons, has also thrown some money into politics, but on the opposite end of the spectrum—he’s a major Democratic donor who supported Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House. But it does suggest that Mercer thinks there is some kind of play to be made with Time, just as rumors are swirling that Pecker could seek to add the company’s famous newsweekly to his stable of more conservative-leaning titles. That’s good news for Trump, who, it was recently reported, has been hanging framed copies of fake Time magazines in his golf clubhouses with his own face on the covers. With either Mercer or Pecker eyeing Time, the president’s Photoshopping days could be coming to a close.

More:
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/07/bob-mercer-david-pecker-time

[SummerSnow]

1. You know what this means?

Trump is going to get this person to stop TIME from creating those covers about him.

[Bob Loblaw]

4. And put a different Pecker on the cover?

[magicarpet]

2. Freedom of the press...

.... trumped by Fascism disguised as hyper free market capitalism.

A pig is still a pig - irregardless of how much cologne and lipstick applied.

And a Nazi is a Nazi - irregardless if you drown and drench in fragrant toiletries.

They still stink to high heaven.

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

not good