CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA, the data driven company that was shown to be breaking the law through their use of personal data that was obtained wrongfully in both moral and legal standings, shut down recently citing the loss of clients after the Facebook scandal. But there are suggestions that this could be a ruse to then resume operations under a different guise.
There were suggestions in the Guardian that the company could re-emerge because the leaders of Cambridge Analytica formed a complex web link of companies that are controlled by SCL, with around 18 in UK alone.
Web of data
More recently however, the company Emerdata Limited was created in August 2017 and Alexander Taylor, CA’s Chief Data Officer, was the one who was initially listed as the owner of the company alongside the chairman of SCL, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, Julian Wheatland. Subsequently Firecrest Technologies Limited was then incorporated as a subsidiary of Emerdata in March 2018.
Furthermore, for a brief period of time the former CEO of CA, Alexander Nix was listed as a director for both companies. However, this changed quite rapidly but the daughters of Robert Mercer, Rebekah and Jennifer, are listed as directors of Emerdata. Robert Mercer is a US hedge fund billionaire and was a significant funder of CA, he also supported Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign and Brexit campaign.
