Who Is Michael Bloomberg?

Who Is Michael Bloomberg?

Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire businessman, publisher, philanthropist, and a former three-term mayor of New York City. The founder and owner of Bloomberg LP, he is one of the wealthiest people in the world, with an estimated net worth of $82 billion as of June 23, 2022, according to Forbes. On Nov. 24, 2019, Bloomberg entered the 2020 race for president of the United States as a Democrat, but in March 2020, he suspended his campaign and backed President Joseph Biden.

Bloomberg is the founder and owner of Bloomberg LP, a financial data and media company. He currently owns 88% of the company.

Early Years and Education

Bloomberg was born on Feb. 14, 1942, in Boston, and grew up in nearby Medford, Massachusetts. He earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1964. He paid his tuition by working as a parking lot attendant and taking out loans. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1966.

Bloomberg began his career in financial services in 1966 at the now-defunct Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers, where his first job was counting bonds and stock certificates in the bank’s vault. He moved up to bond trading, becoming a partner in 1972 and a general partner in 1976.

In 1979, Salomon Brothers moved him from his position of head of equity trading and sales to run Information Systems. This was apparently a demotion, but it put Bloomberg in charge of the department that implemented computer technology. When the company was acquired by the commodity trading firm Phibro in 1981, Bloomberg received a $10 million severance package.

Bloomberg LP

Bloomberg used the windfall to found a company called Innovative Market Solutions that used the latest information systems technology to provide traders with data on U.S. Treasury bond prices. Merrill Lynch became a major client and investor in 1982. This company grew into what is today Bloomberg LP, a financial data and media company headquartered in New York City with offices in 100 cities around the world.

Bloomberg LP recorded $11 billion in revenue in 2022. The company operates data terminals used throughout the financial services industry. It also includes the business news cable channel Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and a monthly magazine, Bloomberg Markets.

BusinessWeek magazine was purchased by Michael Bloomberg's company in 2009 and was renamed Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Bloomberg's Political Life

Before entering politics, Bloomberg was a Democrat. He switched to the Republican Party in order to run for mayor of New York City. He won his first term as mayor weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York. He won a second term in 2005. After successfully engineering a change in the city's term limits law, he was elected to a third term, this time as an independent candidate, in 2009.

During his time as mayor, Bloomberg focused on improving the city's troubled public school system and revitalizing its former industrial areas. He was among the first American politicians to force limits on smoking, implementing a citywide smoking ban in indoor offices and restaurants. He gained nationwide ridicule from conservatives for attempting to restrict the size of sugary sodas sold in New York City.

Bloomberg was criticized for being out of touch with his everyday constituents and the media reported that the wealth gap in New York City grew during his time as mayor. The Bloomberg administration was also criticized for its "stop and frisk" policy, which many complained unfairly targeted the Black and Latinx populations in the city.

Bloomberg's Post-Mayoral Politics

Bloomberg moved to the independent party while still serving as mayor of New York. Politically, he is seen as fiscally conservative but socially liberal, which is a mix is more often seen in New York City than elsewhere.

In the 2016 election, Bloomberg endorsed Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton over Republican candidate Donald Trump. He denounced Republicans in Congress as "absolutely feckless" for failing to exercise oversight of President Trump.

In 2018, Bloomberg donated $80 million to Congressional candidates, with all but a fraction of that total going to Democratic or liberal candidates. His goal in making those donations was to help Democrats gain a majority in the House of Representatives. "I've never thought that the public is well-served when one party is entirely out of power, and I think the past year and a half has been evidence of that," Bloomberg stated.

Bloomberg has been an active proponent of gun control. He was one of 15 American mayors who founded an advocacy group, Everytown for Gun Safety, in 2006 to press for reform of gun laws. He has also made substantial donations to environmental organizations and, as mayor of New York, pressed for clean energy policies.

Presidential Candidate

On Nov. 24, 2019, Michael Bloomberg entered the 2020 race for the U.S. presidency as a Democrat. He self-funded his campaign and reported to the Federal Election Commission he had spent over $1 billion.

In his campaign statement, Bloomberg aimed at President Trump as his motivation for running. He wrote, "I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America. We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions. He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage."

Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race on March 4, 2020, after a poor showing on Super Tuesday.

Bloomberg and the United Nations

As of February 2021, Michael Bloomberg serves as Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions. This is his third Special Envoy role, and within it, Bloomberg supports the Secretary-General of the United Nations by helping to strengthen and grow the coalition of companies, government officials on a local and national level, plus global financial institutions that are committing to net-zero before the year 2050.

Bloomberg works alongside the private sector, civil society workers, and government officials worldwide to help create a global clean energy economy.

Philanthropy

As a philanthropist, he and his charitable foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, have donated an estimated total of $11.1 billion primarily to five main focus areas: the arts, education, the environment, public health, and government innovation.

The Bottom Line

Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire whose reach extends into politics, media, and business. He continues to fund programs that support gun control and the environment, among other philanthropic endeavors.

As of 2021, he is a special envoy for the United Nations Secretary-General's Climate Ambition and Solutions group.