Michael Bloomberg, the founder of the financial data and media company Bloomberg LP, may sell the firm if he decides to run for the US presidency in 2020.
“It would either go to a blind trust or I would sell it. But I think at my age, if selling it is possible, I would do that,” Mr Bloomberg, the former three-time mayor of New York, said in an interview with Radio Iowa. “At some point, you’re going to die anyway, so you want to do it before then.”
Bloomberg LP was valued at $22.5 billion in 2008 when Merrill Lynch sold its 20 per cent stake in the company at the height of the global financial crisis. The company, founded in 1981, is majority owned by Mr Bloomberg and has estimated annual revenues of about $10bn. The backbone of the company is its subscription-based computer-terminal service used by banks and financial institutions.
“I’ve started talking about that [covering me] to the head of news, John Micklethwait [editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News]…but I’m not a candidate yet so I’ve got plenty of time to think about it,” Mr Bloomberg, 76, said when asked how the news agency would cover him as a politician.
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Asked how he would consider convincing Democrats that he is aligned with the party, Mr Bloomberg said: “I was a Democrat all my life, but I think that I have had the same values for an awful long time.”
“The things that Democrats care about are things that I not only can say that I’m in favour of, I’ve got a record to show that I have done a lot working on tobacco, I have done a lot in working on crime and on reducing incarceration and bringing down the murder rates, I’ve done a lot on maternal health and women’s health…I’ve got a record.”
Mr Bloomberg, ranked by Forbes as the 10th richest man globally, said US President Donald Trump’s approach to negotiations with China, which the US is embroiled in a trade war with at the moment, is flawed and like a “real estate promoter.”
“In his view, there’s a winner and a loser in every transaction and I think that’s a very simplistic approach to the world," Mr Bloomberg said. "You always want to have the other person to think they didn’t get everything they wanted, but they got something and they want to think you didn’t because you’re going to have to go back and do another deal at another time…You don’t want to win each time. You want to move up."
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
Match info
Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 1 (Ramos 73' pen)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
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Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The Light of the Moon
Director: Jessica M Thompson
Starring: Stephanie Beatriz, Michael Stahl-David
Three stars
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
