Is news and trading organization chief Mike Bloomberg set to run for mayor of New York? That’s certainly the impression several of his senior staff have given, and Bloomberg himself has made no denial.
| Mike Bloomberg | ||||||
They were particularly intrigued when the ex-Salomon trader and founder of the hugely successful analytics and news group asked about a dozen of his more senior executives to join him for a meeting in a mid-town hotel recently, rather than in his office. This, they thought, must be when he would announce, to them at least, that he wanted to run for the post incumbent mayor Rudy Giuliani will vacate after next November’s election.
Initially, they were disappointed. Instead he told them he wanted to make sure each had enough breadth of experience across the company, so for two months of 2001 these managers will spend two weeks at a time in other departments.
After the initial dull shock, the speculation has mounted again. This is clearly a move designed to deal with what Bloomberg sees as a succession problem: there is no-one at the firm who knows enough to take over from him. He has also recently switched his party allegiance from Democrat to Republican.
Could it be that he believes he might have to run against a certain new senator’s spouse? For Bill Clinton is also rumoured to be interested, although following his various legal battles he’s likely to need a better-paid job. Either way, Bloomberg has yet to make up his mind, and the prospect of running against Clinton might be too risky for him. Bloomberg hates to lose.
