Billionaire Michael Bloomberg : Early Life, Career, Politics and Net Worth

Michael Bloomberg is an  American businessman, politician, and author who founded in 1981 a financial data-services firm later named Bloomberg L.P. Michael served as mayor of New York City from 2002–2013. Known to be an innovative leader he is quoted thus:

"Organizations resist innovation and those that do inevitably fail because people are more comfortable with what they know than with what they don't."                    

Michael Bloomberg

 According to Forbes, Bloomberg moved from 142nd to 17th on the world's billionaires list in 2011. He currently ranks No. 11 on the Forbes 2020 World's Billionaires list with a net worth of $60.1B as of May 27, 2020.

Early Life and Education

Born into the Jewish family of William Henry Bloomberg (an accountant for a dairy company) and Charlotte Rubens Bloomberg (a secretary) at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, in Brighton Boston, Massachusetts on February 14, 1942. His grandfather maternal and paternal were immigrants from Belarus and Russia respectively. As a child, he lived in Allston for two years before Brookline, for another two years, finally settling in the Boston suburb of Medford, Massachusetts, where he lived until after he graduated from college.

In 1960 Bloomberg sponsored himself through the Johns Hopkins University, where he joined the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. In his second year, he constructed the school mascot's (the blue jay's) costume graduating in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.

In 1966 he graduated from Harvard Business School with a Master of Business Administration before he began his career at Salomon brothers.

Career History

Business

He began his career in 1966 at "The Cage" at Salomon Brothers, where he counted out securities by hand. Bloomberg worked off till he became a general partner in 1973 at the same firm. Within the next 8 years, he led the firm's blockchain operations before the company was sold out to Phibro Corporation.

1981 Michael used his $10 million partnership buyout to create Innovative Market Systems, a financial data-services firm which served as competent financial news and source. By 1982, the company got its first customer Merrill Lynch who installed 22 of Bloomberg's Market master terminals at $30 million. 5 years later the company was renamed Bloomberg L.P.

 Over time, supplementary products such as Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Message, and Bloomberg Tradebook were launched with the company owning a radio network. By October 2015, the company had installed more than 325,000 terminal subscribers worldwide.

While his company boomed, Bloomberg also served on the boards of leading cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Central Park Conservancy, and the Jewish Museum.

In 2001, Michael left the position of CEO to pursue a political career as the mayor of New York City leaving Lex Fenwick before Daniel L. Doctoroff as CEO of Bloomberg L.P. A position he later returned to in 2014.

Political career

Bloomberg won his first political victory on January 1, 2002, He won re-election again in 2005 and again in 2009. As Mayor Bloomberg initially struggled with a low public approval rating.

Due to the September 11, 2001, Major theme of his campaign under the republican party include his view on the city's economy suffering from the effects of the World Trade Center attacks, it needed a mayor with business experience. This together with the outgoing mayor's remark earned him the victory.

He was re-elected mayor November 2005 by a margin of 20 percent, the widest margin ever for a Republican mayor of New York City. Spending $78 million on his campaign, he exceeded the record of $74 million spent on the previous election.

During his re-election, Bloomberg rallied support against the confirmation of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States due to their varying views on Abortion rights, same sex marriages, and other public sensitive issues that he profoundly supports.

On the 2nd October 2008, at a news conference, Bloomberg said -"Handling this financial crisis while strengthening essential services is a challenge I want to take on," He stressed on saying  " should the City Council vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide if I have earned another term"

On October 23, 2008, the City Council voted 29 to 22 in favor of extending the term limit to three consecutive four-year terms, thus allowing Bloomberg to run for office again. Hence, Michael ran for a third mayoral term in 2009, having signed the bid into law on the 3rd of November 2008, arguing that a leader of his field was needed following the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008.

Bloomberg's opponent was Democratic and Working Families Party nominee Bill Thompson whom he defeated by a vote of 51% to 46%.

Personal Life

Bloomberg is a licensed radio operator and private pilot piloting the AW109 helicopter. In 1975, he married Susan Elizabeth Barbara Brown, a British national from Yorkshire, United Kingdom. They had two daughters: Emma (born c. 1979) and Georgina (born 1983). He got divorced in 1993 stating that Susan remains his best friend.

Bloomberg lives with former New York state banking superintendent Diana Taylor in his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan since 2000 and also has homes in London, Bermuda, and Vail, Colorado.

Michael Rubens Bloomberg was recorded the Highest giver having given over 8% of his net worth to support Education, environmental advocacy, Global leadership, and business Impact forums, Public health sector, Religion, Arts and the community all at different points in his career but most especially through his philanthropist firm-the Bloomberg philanthropies.

He is the recipient of various honorary degree awards from institutions such as Yale, Princeton, Fordham, Tufts, etc., and ranked as 51st on the most powerful people list (Forbes).