Michael Rubens Bloomberg is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 108th mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013.
Born on February 14, 1942, in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in the middle-class suburb of Medford, he is the son of William Henry Bloomberg, a bookkeeper at a dairy company, and Charlotte Rubens Bloomberg, an office manager.
Of Jewish heritage with family roots tracing to Eastern European immigrants, Bloomberg graduated from Medford High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1964, and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1966.
He founded the financial-data and media company Bloomberg L.P., built it into a global enterprise, and later entered politics.
He is one of the world’s wealthiest individuals and a major philanthropist through Bloomberg Philanthropies, focusing on public health, education, the environment, and the arts.
Siblings
Michael has one sibling, a younger sister named Marjorie Tiven.
The two were raised together in Medford, Massachusetts, in a close-knit family shaped by their mother’s strong influence after their father’s early death.
Marjorie later worked in New York City government, serving as commissioner of the Commission for the United Nations, Consular Corps and Protocol during her brother’s mayoralty.
She has remained a private figure relative to her brother’s high public profile, though the siblings have maintained family ties.
Career
Bloomberg began his career in 1966 at the Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers, starting in an entry-level role and rising to general partner overseeing equity trading and information systems.
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In 1981, after the firm was acquired, he was let go and received a roughly $10 million partnership buyout.
He used the funds to launch Innovative Market Systems (later Bloomberg L.P.) in 1981–1982, creating the Bloomberg Terminal that revolutionized access to real-time financial data and news.
The company expanded into news, television, radio, and other services, becoming a global leader with tens of thousands of employees.
In 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, Bloomberg switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party and was elected mayor of New York City.
He won re-election in 2005 as a Republican and a third term in 2009 as an independent after successfully advocating for a change in term-limit rules.
As mayor he prioritized education reform (including mayoral control of schools), public health measures such as the smoking ban and anti-obesity initiatives, crime reduction, economic development, and post-9/11 recovery.
After leaving office in 2013 he returned to lead Bloomberg L.P. and expanded his philanthropy.
In 2019–2020 he ran a self-funded campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, spending nearly $1 billion before suspending it and endorsing Joe Biden.
Accolades
Bloomberg received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor, from President Joe Biden in 2024.
He was an Eagle Scout as a youth and has received numerous awards for public service and philanthropy, including recognition from organizations focused on healthy communities and public health.
Through Bloomberg Philanthropies he has donated more than $25 billion to causes such as education (including major gifts to Johns Hopkins University), climate action, gun-violence prevention, and the arts.
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