Friday, July 18, 2008

For Bloomberg, Another $10 Billion or So Doesn’t Count for Much

Published: July 18, 2008

If Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s net worth has nearly doubled to perhaps as much as $20 billion, that means:

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Michael R. Bloomberg and his companion, Diana Taylor, in June. His net worth has been revised upward — way upward.

¶The mayor can finance one-quarter of New York City’s budget all by himself or the entirety of what the United States spends each year on foreign aid or space exploration.

¶His personal wealth surpasses the gross domestic product of Armenia.

¶He has more money than the amount Americans bet annually on legal thoroughbred horse racing.

¶He has even more to give away to nonprofit organizations or to invest in another mayoral campaign (if term limits are rescinded).

¶He may now be the richest New Yorker.

¶His lifestyle is unlikely to be affected in the slightest.

By agreeing on Thursday to buy Merrill Lynch’s 20 percent stake in Bloomberg L.P., the financial data and news business that he founded, for $4.4 billion, Mr. Bloomberg, in effect, placed a public value of roughly $22.5 billion on his private company. He now owns 92 percent of the stock. Given other holdings, that would place his net worth in the ballpark of $16 billion to well over $20 billion.

When Mr. Bloomberg first ran for mayor in 2001, his net worth was estimated at $5 billion. Last spring, Forbes magazine calculated that he was worth $11.5 billion, which made him the world’s 65th wealthiest person.

A net worth of $20 billion would catapult him into the magazine’s top 25. Even $18 billion would propel him past two other New Yorkers: David H. Koch ($17 billion), the oil-and-gas mogul who recently pledged $100 million to renovate the New York State Theater, and Carl C. Icahn ($14 billion), the Queens-born investor. All three are self-made billionaires.

“People never resented him, because he made it on his own,” said former Mayor Edward I. Koch. “Bloomberg’s money has never been a factor, except in getting him elected.”

Mr. Bloomberg spent $160 million of his own money on his two mayoral campaigns. In addition to contributing more than $175 million to arts and social service organizations since 2002, through the Carnegie Corporation, he has given hundreds of millions more to other causes. The Chronicle of Philanthropy estimated that he had contributed more than $200 million last year.

Testifying in Washington on Thursday at a Congressional hearing on the achievement gap between white and nonwhite students, Mr. Bloomberg said: “Our country is built on the principle that all those willing to work hard have a shot at success. But the achievement gap undermines that.”

Outside the hearing, he was asked if young New Yorkers would regard him any differently because he appeared to be worth billions of dollars more than he was the day before. He noted that he accepts only $1 a year as mayor, and added: “I have my senior’s MetroCard for the subway every day. All I can tell you is that I went to public schools and I was taught that if you worked hard, then the great American dream is open to you. And, sadly, that’s not true for too many kids in our schools.”

Will the re-evaluation of his wealth make any difference to their parents?

“To say to a guy from Brooklyn or Queens that the mayor is really worth $15 billion when we thought he was worth $8 billion is like talking about the federal deficit — it doesn’t matter,” said William T. Cunningham, the mayor’s former communications director.

That nonchalance was reflected in random interviews with New Yorkers, some of whom half-joked that they hoped the mayor would be more generous in his gift-giving, and offered their own suggestions about what they would do if their net worth doubled.

Ann Quigley, a 24-year-old actress and teacher, said she would pay off her student loans, travel more and buy an espresso maker. Referring to Mr. Bloomberg, she said: “It’s really easy to look at these people from afar and judge how they should spend their own money. But at the same time, where do you draw the line? I make more money than a homeless person, so shouldn’t I give most my money away?”

Chris Ottomanelli, 20, a day camp counselor and student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said his view of the mayor had not changed. “I knew when he came into office that he was wealthy and I expected him to continue to make money,” he said.

With all of Mr. Bloomberg’s wealth, including his opulent town houses in New York and London, his vacation home in Bermuda, and all his other assets, would being worth billions of dollars more make any difference in his everyday life?

“I don’t see how it could,” Mr. Cunningham said.

Lewis Begley, the lawyer and novelist whose fiction revolves around New York and money, agreed. “I think it probably affects him marginally,” Mr. Begley said. “It must give him a nice warm feeling, confirming that he can do anything he wants. He can walk and chew gum and whistle all at the same time.”

Austin Bogues, in Washington, and C.J. Hughes and Rebecca White, in New York, contributed reporting.

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