Mike Bloomberg

American businessman, billionaire and politician, elected the 108th Mayor of New York City on November 6, 2001, succeeding Rudy Giuliani. After spending up to $70 million of his own money on his campaign, he was sworn in by his predecessor in Times Square, just minutes after midnight on January 1, 2002. Later that day, he took the oath of office at 12:21 PM EST in a short, no-frills ceremony at the city clerk's office. He lives in his five-story, art filled brownstone on Manhattan's Upper East Side rather than the Governor's Gracie mansion. In the worlds of finance and financial journalism, Michael Bloomberg is a phenomenon. The 25th richest American with an estimated net worth of $11.5 billion (Forbes September 2007), he runs a vast communications empire that takes in $4.7 billion a year in revenue and employs more than 10,000 people in more than 125 offices worldwide. As his business empire solidified, he became more interested in philanthropy and civic involvement. A proven salesman, legendary motivator and disciplined manager, he built a global conglomerate basically from scratch. From a modest background, the son of a bookkeeper and a homemaker, Bloomberg was so interested in technology as a kid that he attended lectures at the local museum on the weekends and spent his summers working for a small electronics company. With student loans and a part time job of parking cars, he earned an engineering degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1964 and continued on to Harvard Business School for two years. He began work as a bond trader at Salomon Brothers firm in 1966, becoming a partner in 1972. He was soon supervising all of Salomon's stock trading, sales and later, its information systems. But his relationship with Salomon ended abruptly after the company was purchased by the Phibro Corporation in 1981 and he was fired, a move he called political back-stabbing. Bloomberg used his $10 million severance package to start his own firm. He persuaded Merrill-Lynch to back his plan to build a system that supplied data and data analysis. Prior to then, trading information was found in bookkeeping ledgers and past issues of financial journals, and sometimes on mainframe computers with limited access. Tapping into the capacity of electronics, Bloomberg established a financial service that allowed the business community to obtain current and past information quickly and easily. Two Merrill traders even helped him figure out what to put on the system. Once he delivered, the firm put up a critical $30 million for a 30% stake. Later, Merrill Chief Executive Daniel P. Tully waived Bloomberg's exclusive contract with Merrill so he could market his service to others. Bloomberg’s service company proved indispensable to the financial world. By 2000, Bloomberg L.P. had nearly 160,000 subscribers worldwide. Bloomberg News was launched in 1990, providing economic, business, political and sports stories to leading corporations, financial institutions and newspapers throughout the world. Bloomberg Radio followed in 1993, a general news station with an emphasis on business and the markets. The following year, Bloomberg TV made a debut and has expanded to multiple networks broadcasting in several languages worldwide. A ruthless competitor, he is noted for his hot temper and vivid profanity. Ferocious, he is not without compassion; flippant, he is deeply serious about the social responsibilities of wealth and privilege. His philanthropy has amounted to $100 million a year for some time. His adventures include two near-crashes in aircraft he was piloting, one a helicopter and the other a small plane. At one time he saved a friend's life in an avalanche on the ski slopes: he argued with skeptics and obstinately refused to leave the spot where his friend turned out to be buried. Though driven in business, he is always up for a good party or a ski vacation. At times breezy and given to malapropisms and silly comments, he is a fun target for the late-show comedians. In the spring of 1997, he published his autobiography, "Bloomberg by Bloomberg," written with journalist Matthew Winkler. The bio has been called an exciting story, with anecdotes about breaking into the news business in Washington and Tokyo. Reviewers have also called it pompous and ego-centric, which might be understandable qualities in a self-made man who has achieved a position of world acclaim. Forbes magazine listed him as the richest American politician in October 2002. In early 2007 he was ranked 142nd on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires. Bloomberg is a divorced father of two who switched to the Republican ticket in 2000, aiming for his present job of New York City Mayor. He and Susan Brown married in 1976 and divorced in 1993 when he wanted to go out and party. Their daughters are Emmy, born in 1979 (who worked in her dad's campaign) and Georgina, born in 1983. His ex-wife is still his good friend and was a helpmate on his mayoral campaign. Bloomberg now dates Diana Taylor, a brainy, successful and attractive investment banker. She is usually seen with him at his official functions. New York’s mayor announced on June 19, 2007 that he was ending his affiliation with the Republican Party. He declared himself an Independent, sparking speculation that he might run for US President in 2008. He became a grandfather on 24 December 2013, at 4.34 pm, when his daughter Georgina gave birth to a boy, Jasper Michael Brown Quintana. Link to Wikipedia biography Link to Astrodienst discussion forum