PHOTO BY: JONATHAN LEVINE FOR TIME DIGITAL
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Chief executive and founder, Bloomberg LP (last year No. 18) NET
WORTH $1.3 billion (est.)
AGE 56
ADDRESS 499 Park Avenue, New
York, N.Y.
BIO Salomon Brothers made a mistake by ousting this
powerhouse from its organization in 1981. But Bloomberg rebounded
fast: with backing from Merrill Lynch, he built the Bloomberg
empire, which includes radio, television and Bloomberg Online. On
the hardware side, he created the now omnipresent (on Wall Street
at least) Bloomberg terminals, which transmit his assorted
information services to subscribers for $1,190 a month. Bloomberg
employs 900 reporters and editors worldwide to handle the demand
for round-the-clock Bloomberg news, competing against Dow Jones,
Reuters and Bridge. He has soft skills too. Bloomberg prides
himself on being sensitive to customers' needs: he is especially
proud of a program launched earlier this year that allows free
60-day in-home access to Bloomberg terminals via the Internet for
any customer who becomes unemployed or who requires a leave of
absence to take care of a family or medical emergency. The
customer can use Bloomberg's service as a tool to check the
market and look for work.
1998 POWER PLAY In February Bloomberg
LP signed a deal to become one of America Online's business news
providers, another strategic move toward a strong online
presence. In July the 100,000th Bloomberg terminal came online.
That is a market growth of about 30% in the past year.
PLACE YOUR BETS Bloomberg is not interested in going public, but business is
growing steadily. Stash some cash, and hope he changes his mind
someday.
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