Billionaire face-off.
Now, nobody comes into possession of billions in net worth, without a certain set of attributes and attitudes about what money is and what makes it work. Both The Donald and Mikey were fortunate to have planned well in selecting the families into which they were born, but both have also been astute stewards of the fortunes entrusted to them.
But they have each pursued different courses in accumulating those monuments of great wealth. The Donald jumped into real estate early on, and parlayed it into the vast empire of which he cheerfully puts his own name at every opportunity.
Mikey started out with a degree in Electrical Engineering, and with an MBA from Harvard, toiled in the information technology side of things with Salomon Brothers, eventually working himself to a partnership in the firm. Salomon Brothers merged with another firm, and Mikey found himself with a severance check for $10 million in 1981. He went into business on his own, designing and establishing several innovative terminals that made it easier for traders to wade through data, and the company he formed, now Bloomberg LP, became widely successful, and by 1989, had accumulated a fortune estimated as about $2 billion. He then branched out into Bloomberg News and Bloomberg TV.
IN 2001, he chose to enter politics (as a “Republican”, whatever that means in New York) and succeeded Rudy Giuliani as Mayor of New York, a job he held for 12 years and during which he transformed from “Republican” to “Democrat” and eventually to “Independent”. Upon retiring from the Mayor’s office, he returned to the helm of Bloomberg LP, and his fortune now roughly $22 billion.
Not surprising that Mikey and The Donald know each other on a personal basis, they have probably met socially and in business venues hundreds of times, and the relationship has always remained cordial for both parties.
Would but that Ayn Rand could be here to see this and to make her observations, as was done in “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged”.
Nice mini-essay.
I don’t want either of them for President.
There are reasons the true greats, Rockefeller, Edison, Ford, Disney and others did not run for public office.
Bloomturd ran as a “republican” because all the slots for “democrat” were taken.
He had to run as a republican or not run at all.
Thanks for the background info on Bloomie. NYC is a small pond full of big fish.
2008 - Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation Golf Classic
Donald Trump, Joe Torre, Micahel Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani, Billy Crystal