Bloomberg L.P.

Type	Limited Partnership
Founded	1981
Founder(s)	Michael Bloomberg
Headquarters	New York City, United States
Key people	Peter Grauer, Chairman Dan Doctoroff, President Thomas Secunda, CTO Matthew Winkler, Editor in Chief, News
Industry	Financial Services
Revenue	▲US$5.4 billion (2007)
Employees	10,000 (February 2008, Bloomberg.com)
Website	http://www.bloomberg.com

Bloomberg L.P. (Limited Partnership) is a closely-held financial software, news and data company. It has a one-third share of the market, similar to Thomson Reuters.^[1] Bloomberg L.P. was founded by Michael Bloomberg (current Mayor of New York City) with the help of Thomas Secunda and other partners (Bloomberg's former coworkers from Salomon Brothers) in 1981 with the help of a 30% ownership investment by Merrill Lynch. The company provides financial software tools such as analytics and equity trading platform, data services and news to financial companies and organizations around the world through the Bloomberg Terminal, its core money-generating product. Bloomberg L.P. has grown to include a global news service, including television, radio, the Internet and printed publications.

Its current headquarters are located at the Bloomberg Tower, 731 Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building is also known as One Beacon Court for the lighted rectangular beacon that caps the tower and the paved courtyard at the ground level. ^[2]

It was incorporated as a Delaware Limited Partnership in 1981 and has been in business since 1983. Michael Bloomberg owns 85% of the group. Bloomberg's core business is leasing terminals to subscribers. It also runs Bloomberg Television, a financial TV station, and a business radio station WBBR in New York City at a loss. Forbes Magazine estimated, in 2000, Bloomberg's cash flow margins on its $2.3 billion in revenues exceed 35%.^[3] Bloomberg reports more than 100,000 users in North America, and more than 150,000 in the rest of the world.^{[citation needed]} Its competitors include SNL Financial, Thomson Reuters, Capital IQ, Dow Jones Newswires, FactSet Research Systems and smaller companies such as New York Financial Press. In July 2008, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell its 20% stake in the firm back to Bloomberg, for a reported $4.43 billion, valuing the firm at approximately $22.5 billion.^[4][5]

Contents 1 History, services & products 2 Corporate governance 3 See also 4 Notes 5 External links 5.1 Television 5.2 Radio 5.3 On-demand podcasts

[edit] History, services & products

In 1981, Michael Bloomberg was fired from Salomon Brothers, where he was a general partner and given a $10 million severance package.^[6] Using this money, Bloomberg went on to set up a company named Innovative Market Systems. In 1982, Merrill Lynch became the new company's first customer, installing 20 Market Master terminals and investing $30 million in the company.^{[7][8] [9]} In 1986, the company was renamed Bloomberg L.P. and by 1988, 5000 terminals had been installed.^[10] Within a few years, ancillary products including Bloomberg Tradebook (a trading platform), the Bloomberg Messaging Service, and the Bloomberg newswire were launched.

Bloomberg lost money during the boom of the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to its financial services offerings, Bloomberg launched its news services division in 1990. Bloomberg News (originally known as Bloomberg Business News) has some 2,000 staff in 125 bureaus around the world and is available on the web at www.bloomberg.com. It now provides information to approximately 350 newspapers and magazines worldwide, including The Economist, The New York Times and USA Today.^{[citation needed]}

In order to run for the position of Mayor of New York against Democrat Mark Green in 2001, Mike Bloomberg gave up his position of CEO at Bloomberg and appointed Lex Fenwick as CEO in his stead.^{[citation needed]} Daniel Doctoroff, former deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration, now serves as president. Peter Grauer is the chairman.

Bloomberg filed Bloomberg L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Case Number: 1:2008cv09595 in the New York Southern District Court November 7, 2008. The suit asks Judge Loretta A. Preska to require the Federal Reserve to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act to divulge the names of private financial institutions that were recipients of 1.2 trillion in public bailout money, along with kind and amounts of collateral provided.

In September 2007, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of more than 80 female employees, who argue Bloomberg L.P. engaged in a pattern of discrimination against pregnant women who took maternity leave.^[11] The suit alleges that 'Michael Bloomberg is responsible for the creation of the systemic, top-down culture of discrimination' at the company.^[12] A Bloomberg L.P. spokeswoman said: 'We are confident that once all the facts come out they will demonstrate that the claims have no merit.'^[13]

Bloomberg News was the subject of an investigative feature by Vanity Fair in December 2008.^[14]

[edit] Corporate governance

As of March 2001, members of the board of directors of Bloomberg include: Peter Grauer, Arthur Levitt, Jane Bryant Quinn, Frank Savage, and Thomas Secunda.^[15]

[edit] See also

• A. M. Best
• Bloomberg Markets
• Dominion Bond Rating Service
• Fitch Ratings
• Morningstar, Inc.
• Moody's
• Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations
• SNL Financial
• Standard & Poor's
• Thomson Reuters

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Bloomberg
• Bloomberg: Overview
• PND News - New York City Mayor Gave $130 Million to Charity in 2002
• Bloomberg LP v. Triple E Holdings Limited (2002) GENDND 1665 (13 December 2002)
• The Vault, containing a company overview
• Fortune Magazine: Bloomberg LP is a prodigious success
• Vanity Fair: Bloomberg Without Bloomberg

[edit] Television

Bloomberg Television

• Bloomberg streaming television

[edit] Radio

• Bloomberg streaming radio

[edit] On-demand podcasts

• Bloomberg downloadable podcasts