Michael Bloomberg
Businessman, philanthropist, and 109th mayor of New York City.
Michael Rubens Bloomberg was born on February 14, 1942, and is an American businessman and politician. He co-founded Bloomberg L.P., where he remains the majority owner, and served as its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. From 2002 to 2013, he was the 109th mayor of New York City. Originally a lifelong Democrat, he switched to the Republican Party in 2001 to run for mayor, then became an Independent in 2007. He is the most recent New York City mayor to serve as a Republican or Independent. In 2018, he rejoined the Democratic Party and later ran an unsuccessful campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. As of March 2026, Bloomberg is a centibillionaire with a net worth of $109.4 billion, ranking as the 18th richest person globally.
Bloomberg grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, and earned degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School. He started his career at Salomon Brothers, a securities brokerage, before founding his own company in 1981. That firm, Bloomberg L.P., is a financial information, software, and media company best known for the Bloomberg Terminal. He spent two decades as its chairman and CEO. A signatory of the Giving Pledge, he has donated $24.5 billion to philanthropic causes as of 2025. After a short period as a full-time philanthropist, he returned to the CEO role at Bloomberg L.P. in late 2014.
Bloomberg was elected mayor in 2001 and served three consecutive terms, winning re-election in 2005 and 2009. His policies were socially liberal and fiscally moderate, and he governed with a technocratic style. As mayor, he established public charter schools, rebuilt urban infrastructure, and backed gun control, public health efforts, and environmental protections. He also oversaw a major rezoning of the city that spurred commercial and residential construction after the September 11 attacks. His influence on New York City’s politics, business, and culture during his three terms is widely acknowledged. However, he faced significant criticism for the city’s stop-and-frisk program, which he later apologized for and reversed before his 2020 presidential run.
In November 2019, four months before Super Tuesday, Bloomberg launched his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. He ended it in March 2020 after winning only 61 delegates. He self-funded $935 million for the campaign, setting records for the most expensive presidential primary campaign and the highest spending by a single individual in any U.S. political capacity. In 2024, President Joe Biden awarded Bloomberg the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Bloomberg was born on February 14, 1942, at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood, to William Henry Bloomberg, a dairy company bookkeeper who never earned more than $6,000 annually (equivalent to $110,000 in 2026), and Charlotte (née Rubens) Bloomberg. His father died suddenly while Bloomberg was in college; the Bloomberg Center at Harvard Business School is named in his honor. Bloomberg’s family is Jewish, and he belongs to Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. His paternal grandfather, Rabbi Alexander “Elick” Bloomberg, was a Polish Jew, and his maternal grandfather, Max Rubens, was a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant from present-day Belarus; his maternal grandmother was born in New York to Lithuanian Jewish parents.
The family lived in Allston until Bloomberg was two, then in Brookline, Massachusetts, for two years, before settling in the Boston suburb of Medford, where he lived until after college. He became an Eagle Scout at twelve and graduated from Medford High School in 1960. He attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and built the blue jay costume for the university’s mascot. He earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 1964, followed by an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1966. Bloomberg is a member of Kappa Beta Phi and Tau Beta Pi, and wrote an autobiography, *Bloomberg by Bloomberg*, with help from Bloomberg News editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler.
In 1966, Bloomberg was hired at Salomon Brothers for $9,000 a year. He was promoted to the equities desk, became a general partner in 1972, and headed equity trading and later systems development. When Phibro Corporation bought Salomon Brothers in 1981, the new management fired him, paying him $10 million for his equity. Using that money, he founded Innovative Market Systems (IMS), based on his belief that Wall Street would pay for high-quality business information delivered instantly on computer terminals. The company’s first product, the Market Master terminal, launched in December 1982. In 1986, IMS renamed itself Bloomberg L.P. Over time, it added Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Message, and Bloomberg Tradebook.
- born
- February 14, 1942
- field
- Business, politics, philanthropy
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- Co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., 109th mayor of New York City, centibillionaire
Lore & Background
Bloomberg grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. He began his career at the securities brokerage firm Salomon Brothers, before forming his own company in 1981. That company, Bloomberg L.P., is a financial information, software, and media firm that is known for its Bloomberg Terminal. Bloomberg spent the next twenty years as its chairman and CEO. Bloomberg, who has signed the Giving Pledge, has given away $24.5 billion (as of 2025) to philanthropic causes in his lifetime. After a brief stint as a full-time philanthropist, he re-assumed the position of CEO at Bloomberg L.P. by the end of 2014. Bloomberg was elected the 109th mayor of New York City in 2001. He held office for three consecutive terms, winning re-election in 2005 and 2009. Pursuing socially liberal and fiscally moderate policies, Bloomberg developed a technocratic managerial style. As the mayor of New York, Bloomberg established public charter schools, rebuilt urban infrastructure, and supported gun control, public health initiatives, and environmental protections. He also led a re-zoning of large areas of the city, which facilitated widespread new commercial and residential construction after the September 11 attacks. Bloomberg is considered to have had far-reaching influence on the politics, business sector, and culture of New York City during his three terms as mayor. He has also faced significant criticism for the city's stop-and-frisk program, support for which he reversed with an apology before his 2020 presidential run. In November 2019, four months before Super Tuesday, Bloomberg officially launched his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in the 2020 election. He ended his campaign in March 2020, after having won only 61 delegates. Bloomberg self-funded $935 million for his candidacy, which set the record for the most expensive presidential primary campaign and highest spending in any political capacity by a single individual in U.S. history. In 2024, Bloomberg received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden.
Reader's Guide
Bloomberg was born on February 14, 1942, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, to William Henry Bloomberg, a bookkeeper for a dairy company, and Charlotte (née Rubens) Bloomberg. His father never earned more than $6,000 (equivalent to $110,000 in 2026 dollars) a year. William Henry Bloomberg died suddenly when his son was in college. The Bloomberg Center at the Harvard Business School was named in William Henry's honor. Bloomberg's family is Jewish, and he is a member of the Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. Bloomberg's paternal grandfather, Rabbi Alexander 'Elick' Bloomberg, was a Polish Jew. Bloomberg's maternal grandfather, Max Rubens, was a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant from present-day Belarus, and his maternal grandmother was born in New York to Lithuanian Jewish parents. The family lived in Allston until Bloomberg was two years old, followed by Brookline, Massachusetts, for two years, finally settling in the Boston suburb of Medford, Massachusetts, where he lived until after he graduated from college. Bloomberg became an Eagle Scout when he was twelve years old. He graduated from Medford High School in 1960. He went on to attend Johns Hopkins University, where he joined the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. While there, he constructed the blue jay costume for the university's mascot. He graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in electrical engineering. In 1966, he graduated from Harvard Business School with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. Bloomberg is a member of Kappa Beta Phi and Tau Beta Pi. He wrote an autobiography, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, with help from Bloomberg News editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler. In 1966, Bloomberg was hired for a job earning $9,000 per year at Salomon Brothers, a large Wall Street investment bank. Salomon Brothers later promoted him to the equities desk. Bloomberg became a general partner at Salomon Brothers in 1972; he headed equity trading and, later, systems development. Phibro Corporation bought Salomon Brothers in 1981, and the new management fired Bloomberg, paying him $10 million for his equity in the firm. Using the money he received from Phibro, Bloomberg—having designed in-house computerized financial systems for Salomon—set up a data services company named Innovative Market Systems (IMS) based on his belief that Wall Street would pay a premium for high
Did You Know?
- Bloomberg became an Eagle Scout when he was twelve years old.
- While at Johns Hopkins University, he constructed the blue jay costume for the university's mascot.
- In 2024, Bloomberg received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden.
Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)
"“I don't know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from there, but if there's ever a Ponzi scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest? Wrong. Social Security is, far and away," — Michael Bloomberg "Today, you're a piranha if you are seen having coffee with somebody from the other party in many cases." — Michael Bloomberg "Press conference, 20 June 2007; presumably meaning "pariah", not "piranha" — Michael Bloomberg
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