Axios: Michael Bloomberg plans to buy The Wall Street Journal or Washington Post
An Axios source told Axios that Michael Bloomberg, the majority owner of Bloomberg Agency, intends to buy The Wall Street Journal from Rupert Murdoch. The businessman is also considering buying The Washington Post from Bezos.
Former New York City mayor, billionaire billionaire and media mogul Michael Bloomberg is interested in buying The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) or The Washington Post (WP), a source close to the businessman told Axios.
According to the source, Bloomberg expects to buy Dow Jones, the parent company of the WSJ, which is “a perfect fit” for him. But he’s also considering buying WP if its majority owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is willing to sell.
Axios recalls that Dow Jones owns Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which is currently trying to merge News Corp with Fox Corporation. According to the publication’s source, Bloomberg has not directly approached Murdoch about buying Dow Jones, but has already started bringing in bankers to evaluate the asset.
Also, the source said that Bloomberg is friends with Bezos, but the latter is unlikely to sell him a WP. According to the newspaper, Bloomberg believes that the Washington Post along with Bloomberg could be a serious competition for The New York Times.
Michael Bloomberg was born February 14, 1942 in Boston and graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School in 1964. He began his business career at Salomon Brothers, from whose profits he founded his media empire. In 2001, he won the election for mayor of New York City, after which he led the city for 12 years. In 2016, he participated in the presidential race in the United States from the Democratic Party, but later withdrew from it. Then he explained his decision by fears that Republicans Ted Cruz or Donald Trump could win with his participation.
Bloomberg is one of the richest men on the planet according to Forbes, ranking 12th with a fortune of $76 billion. His main asset is 88% in the news agency Bloomberg, which he founded in 1981. The agency’s main product is the Bloomberg information terminal, which provides access to current and historical prices on virtually all world exchanges and many over-the-counter markets, news feeds from Bloomberg and other leading media outlets, an electronic trading system for bonds and other securities. The company currently has a turnover of over $10 billion and employs 20,000 people.