Michael Bloomberg served three terms as the Mayor of New York City from January 2002 to January 2014. The last term was made possible by the Mayor spending an estimated $60-$90 million of his own money repealing the two-term limits – an act that outraged many New Yorkers.
According to Forbes, during Michael Bloomberg’s 12-year stint as Mayor, his wealth exploded more than ten-fold, from $3 billion to $31 billion. The bulk of Bloomberg’s wealth has derived from leasing his Bloomberg data and news terminals at a cost of approximately $24,000 per terminal per year to tens of thousands of Wall Street trading desks and global banks around the world.
The Mayor’s wealth and where it comes from is a reality that poses an inherent conflict of interest for any news outlet but it is especially so for a news organization like Bloomberg News that is supposed to be investigating the very Wall Street firms that write checks to pay for their Bloomberg terminals.
While the Mayor was running the City of New York, maintaining a hands-off approach to the Bloomberg newsroom, investigative reporters there regularly distinguished themselves. Two blockbuster stories came out of that era that greatly advanced the public interest thanks to the courageous reporting of Bloomberg reporters.
This post was published at Wall Street On Parade on August 10, 2016.
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