At 81, former New York City mayor and multibillionaire Michael Bloomberg is well past the age of retirement, raising questions about his succession plans for Bloomberg LP, the financial data and media company he co-founded with Tom Secunda in 1981.
People with knowledge of the company said Mr Bloomberg was likely to transfer ownership of Bloomberg LP to a trust that will finance Bloomberg Philanthropies for perpetuity, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
“He has committed to giving the company away to Bloomberg Philanthropies when he dies, if not sooner,” Bloomberg LP spokesman Ty Trippet told the FT.
Mr Bloomberg owns about 88 per cent of the privately held company, which has an estimated annual revenue of more than $12 billion.
The company’s flagship product is its subscription-based computer-terminal service, used by thousands of banks and financial institutions globally and which contributes an estimated $9.7 billion per year to its bottom line.
The company also owns news agency Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Businessweek magazine and Bloomberg TV.
Mr Bloomberg’s likely successor is Jean-Paul Zammitt, a company veteran and president of Bloomberg Financial Products, the FT said.
Vlad Kliatchko, the company's chief product officer, could be another candidate to replace Mr Bloomberg, according to the FT.
However, others say that Mr Bloomberg could look outside the company for his replacement when he eventually retires — similar to what he did during his 12-year stint as mayor of New York City, it added.
“Mike asks his senior leaders every time they meet if they have more than one successor, and while he has succession plans for himself, he has not discussed them with anyone,” Mr Trippet told the FT.
In 2018, Mr Bloomberg said he was considering selling the company if he ran 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 is possible I would do that,” Mr Bloomberg said in an interview at the time with Radio Iowa.
“At some point, you’re going to die anyway, so you want to do it before then.”
Mr Bloomberg eventually decided to run for the presidency but his 100-day campaign was disappointing and he withdrew from the race in March 2020 after spending more than $1 billion on his bid, according to a US Federal Election Commission filing.
Ranked the seventh-richest person in the world, Mr Bloomberg has an estimated net worth of $94.5 billion, according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
In 2010, he signed the Giving Pledge, in which he plans to donate at least half of his wealth. So far, he has given away $8.2 billion to philanthropic causes, according to Forbes.
“For decades, I’ve been committed to giving away the vast majority of my wealth to causes that I’m passionate about — and that my children are passionate about,” Mr Bloomberg said on the Giving Pledge website.
“And so I am enthusiastically taking the Giving Pledge, and nearly all of my net worth will be given away in the years ahead or left to my foundation.”
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