Michael Bloomberg is an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and the founder and CEO of the financial data-services and media company Bloomberg L.P. He owns 88% of the firm and has an estimated net worth of $96.3 billion as of November 4, 2023.

Bloomberg was born on February 14, 1942, in Medford, a city located the northwest of Boston in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. His parents were William Bloomberg, a bookkeeper, and Charlotte Rubens, an accountant and office manager. He has a younger sister, Marjorie.

Bloomberg received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1964, and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard University in 1966. From 1975 to 1983, Bloomberg was married to Susan Brown, with whom he has two daughters, Emma, 42, and Georgina, 38. Since 2000, his partner has been Diana Taylor.

In 1997, he published his autobiography, Bloomberg by Bloomberg. Then, the book was revised and updated, and republished in 2018. Bloomberg was made honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2014. In 2017, he published another book, called Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet (written with Carl Pope).

Bloomberg founded his company (originally named Innovative Market Solutions) after being fired as a partner at Salomon Brothers (1966-1981), a securities trading business, where he had developed a computerized financial system and received $10 million in compensation. Bloomberg L.P.’s success is largely due to its computer terminal, a broad financial information source that has its precedent in the work carried out by Bloomberg at Salomon Brothers. The company’s other holdings include the wire service Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and the weekly business magazine Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg L.P., based in New York, provides news and data for 325,000 customers who pay $24,000 a year each, it has 20,000 employees worldwide, and it had revenue of $10.5 billion in 2019, a 5% more than the previous year.

Bloomberg’s primary residence is a 7,500-square-foot, five-story Beaux-Arts mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where he lived during his time as mayor, instead of the Gracie Mansion (the official mayoral residence). He bought the property for $3.5 million in 1986 and spent $1.7 million on renovations in 2013. Besides that, Bloomberg acquired five of the six apartments in the next-door building, including one he purchased for $14 million in 2016. He also owns a condominium near Park Avenue that he paid $3.8 million for in 2000, a Beaux-Arts mansion in New York that he bought for $45 million in 2006 and it is used for his philanthropic organization, a 22,000-square-foot Georgian mansion in Southampton he purchased for $20 million in 2011 and a $25 million seven-bedroom mansion in Chelsea he acquired in 2015. In addition, he has three stables in Westchester, New York, one property in Armonk and two properties in North Salem; a $4.5 million 20-acre estate next to the one he had bought in 2001; a top-floor, four-bedroom condominium in Vail, Colorado; a 12-acre property with a 12-stall horse barn and a seven bedrooms mansion in Wellington, Florida; an apartment in London; and a $10 million mansion with private beach in Bermuda.

Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat, entered the 2001 race for mayor of New York City as a Republican. He spent more than $68 million of his fortune in the campaign and won the election. In 2005, Bloomberg was chosen for a second term, and he withdrew from the Republican Party in 2007. Bloomberg campaigned to change the law that prevented him from a third term, and in 2009 was reelected until 2013. He is one of just four people to have served that long. Bloomberg didn’t receive a salary during his time in office, which would have amounted to $2.7 million. After leaving the position, he returned to managing his company. In 2018, Bloomberg registered as a Democrat and launched the American Cities Climate Challenge, a $70 million program to help fight climate change. Besides that, he pledged to spend at least $80 million to defeat Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections. In November 2019, Bloomberg entered the presidential race, spending more than $500 million of his own wealth. He ended his campaign in March 2020 and announced his support for Joe Biden. Bloomberg was the wealthiest presidential candidate ever.

Bloomberg also founded Bloomberg Philanthropies, an organization focused on arts, education, the environment, government innovation, and public health. Besides, he is a board member at several cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Central Park Conservancy, and the Jewish Museum. In 2010, he signed "The Giving Pledge", which committed to donating at least half of their fortune throughout his life, and invited others to do the same. Bloomberg has given away $11.1 billion, including $3.3 billion in 2019 ($1.8 billion was to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University). In 2020, Bloomberg Philanthropies donated $1.6 billion. In March 2021, the organization announced an investment of $150 million to establish the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University. The partnership will provide training, research, and resources for local government leaders around the world.

Sources: Forbes, New York Times, New York Times (2), Good Reads, Good Reads (2), Forbes (2), Forbes (3), Vanity Fair, Britannica, Business Insider, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Wall Street Journal, Philanthropy, Bloomberg Philanthropies (2)

This article was updated on March 16, 2021 by Andrés Taurian

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