Michael Bloomberg from Founder and CEO of Bloomberg LP to American politician
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Michael Bloomberg the entrepreneur, businessman, politician, author, philanthropist and data nerd has served three terms as Mayor of the City of New York. He is the co-founder holding a majority stake in Bloomberg LP, the global leader in news and financial information. Michael Rubens Bloomberg was born on February 14, 1942, in Boston to Jewish parents William Henry Bloomberg a bookkeeper, and Charlotte Bloomberg a home keeper. He graduated from Medford High School in 1960. In 1964, he got his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from John Hopkins University. Michael received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the prestigious Harvard Business School in the year 1966.
He started his career with the investment bank, Solomon Brothers. In 1973, Bloomberg became a general partner at the bank. In 1981, when Phibro Corporation took over Solomon Brothers, Bloomberg marched out with USD 10 million for his equity in the firm.
Founder and CEO of Bloomberg LP
With the USD 10 million severance package received, Bloomberg, designed and built his own computerized system to set up a data services company in 1981, called Innovative Market Systems (IMS). He knew then, he wanted to provide an info tech product that would leverage technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively. From December 1982, the company began to sell their computer terminals called Market Master Terminals to Wall Street companies. It provided real-time market data, financial calculations, and other analytics to the financial companies and organizations. In 1986, the company was renamed as Bloomberg L.P. giving birth to the multi-billion information giant. By 2018 Michael Bloomberg had turned around his USD 10 million company Bloomberg, L.P. to a company with revenues exceeding USD 10 billion.
From 1981 to 2001 Michael Bloomberg, served as the chairman and CEO of Bloomberg. Bloomberg L.P. with a Head Office in midtown Manhattan, New York, is a financial, software, data, and media company. The company has more than 325,000 terminal subscribers worldwide, a presence in 167 locations and employs 20,000 persons around the world.
Bloomberg L.P. provides financial software tools and enterprise applications such as analytics and equity trading platform, data services, and news to financial companies and through its Bloomberg Terminal (via its Bloomberg Professional Service), its core revenue-generating product. Bloomberg L.P. also owns a wire service (Bloomberg News), a global television network (Bloomberg Television), websites, radio stations (Bloomberg Radio), subscription-only newsletters, and two magazines: Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Markets. The company offers products and services like Bloomberg Entity Exchange, Bloomberg Government, Bloomberg Innovation Index, Bloomberg Beta, Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Bloomberg Live and Bloomberg Law.
Bloomberg L.P.’s Board includes Peter Grauer, Thomas Secunda and Michael Bloomberg but Michael Bloomberg the founder, has kept the company private and continues to own the majority.
In 2001, after being the Chairman and CEO of Bloomberg for 20 years, Michael stepped down to pursue a political career as the mayor of New York City. Lex Fenwick and later Daniel L. Doctoroff were appointed as CEOs. After completing his three terms as mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg returned to Bloomberg L.P. as CEO at the end of 2014. Again in 2019, Bloomberg resigned as CEO of Bloomberg L.P. to run for President.
Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor
In 2001 Michael Bloomberg was elected for the first time as the 108th Mayor of the City of New York. He was re-elected in 2005 and 2009. He served as the Mayor of New York City from January 2002 till December 2013.
Public education and poverty were the two issues he wanted to tackle as a mayor. He turned the city’s USD 6 billion deficit into a USD 3 billion surplus budget, by raising property taxes. He set up public charter school system that would be accountable for success. Furthermore, he cut crime by 30% by supporting gun control and increased the lifespan of New Yorkers by 3 years by banning smoking in restaurants and bars. He even rezoned large areas of the city to revitalize old industrial areas, facilitating new commercial and residential construction after the September 11 attacks. Bloomberg spurred economic growth and job creation by encouraging entrepreneurship, supporting small businesses, and strengthening key industries.
Upon leaving City Hall in 2013, Michael Bloomberg returned to his company, Bloomberg LP. He also began to devote considerable time to philanthropy.
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Michael Bloomberg founded the Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2006. It uses Michael’s tech data-driven approach to initiate global change. It focuses on five key areas: environment, education, public health, government innovation, and arts & culture. Michael Bloomberg says “I am a big believer in giving it all away and have always said that the best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker.”
Having said that, in August 2010, Bloomberg signed The Giving Pledge, in which the world’s most-wealthy persons pledge to give away a substantial portion of their wealth. Since then, he has contributed around USD 9.5 billion to numerous causes. The beneficiaries include Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Carnegie Corporation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, World Lung Foundation, the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 World Central Kitchen, and many more.
At the United Nations and WHO
Michael Bloomberg, a keen ambassador of health and environment has served in the UN and WHO under various capacities:
At the UN
- Jan 2014 – Mar 2018 as Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change to the Secretary-General
- Mar 2018 – Nov 2019 as Special Envoy for Climate Action
At the WHO
- Aug 2016 – Nov 2019 as Global Ambassador for Non-communicable Diseases
Awards and Recognition
- 2014 Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- 2013 Yale School of Management’s Award for Distinguished Leadership in Global Capital Markets
- 2013 Laureate of the annual Genesis Prize for Jewish values
- 2010 Jefferson Awards Foundation’s U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official.
- 2009 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Leadership for Healthy Communities’ Healthy Communities Leadership Award
- 2008 Barnard College’s Barnard Medal of Distinction
- 2004 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Ehud Barak
Today Michael Bloomberg is the world’s 22nd richest man with a net worth of USD 54.9 billion. A successful businessman, a mayor, a philanthropist of great repute, Michael Bloomberg keep the billions blooming!