Who

As you may have heard, Michael Bloomberg is the Mayor of New York. You may also be familiar with his nearest and dearest: His girlfriend is Diana Taylor and his daughters are Georgina Bloomberg and Emma Bloomberg.

Backstory

A native of Medford, Mass. (thus the accent), Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins and Harvard Business School before joining the rat race on Wall Street and climbing the corporate ladder at Salomon Bros. He eventually became a partner at the firm, but his career on the Street came to an abrupt end in 1981 when he was sacked by Salomon's CEO, John Gutfreund, shortly after the bank was acquired and cast off the employees it deemed inessential. Bloomberg didn't walk off empty-handed: He received a $10 million severance package and started his own company, Innovative Market Systems, the following day.

One of Bloomberg's responsibilities at Salomon had been to oversee the firm's newfangled computer system. Keenly aware of Wall Street's increasing need for up-to-the-minute info, he set out to design a service that would provide brokers and traders with electronic access to everything they needed. A year after starting out, Merrill Lynch signed on as first customer and took a stake in the nascent company; by 1986, Bloomberg had changed the company's name to Bloomberg LP and set up more than 5,000 of his proprietary terminals around town.

The 1990s were boom times for the company as it took on countless new clients, made mincemeat of a competing service (Dow Jones's Telerate), introduced its own newsgathering operation, and quickly encroached on the biggest provider of financial news, Reuters. What turned out to be Bloomberg's greatest stroke of genius was his decision early on to lease the necessary hardware to banks, rather than sell it. Today there are more than 250,000 Bloomberg terminals in use, with each one costing $18,000-$22,000 a year. (You do the math.) More than 10,000 people work for the company, and it has annual revenues of close to $5 billion.

Bloomberg's political aspirations emerged in the late 1990s when he decided he was up for a new challenge. With Rudy Giuliani unable to run again for mayor because of term limits—and with Bloomberg fully capable of financing his own bid for City Hall—he stepped down from his position atop his media empire in 2001, leaving the company in the hands of chairman Peter Grauer and CEO Lex Fenwick. After switching parties to avoid the morass of Democratic candidates, he threw his hat into the ring; several months—and some $73 million—later, he bested Mark Green by a wide margin to become the 108th Mayor of the City of New York. Bloomberg won re-election in 2005, beating Fernando Ferrer.

Of note

When Bloomberg took office just a few months after the Sept. 11th attacks, many wondered how someone with so little political experience would steer the city through what promised to be a difficult recovery. He quickly proved himself up the task, demonstrating the sort of skills you'd expect from a former CEO. He was pragmatic and focused, and he wasted little time engaging in petty politics and making grand speeches. Instead he set about tackling an ambitious agenda, ultimately getting more done than many had ever expected: He enacted the infamous smoking ban of 2003, which initially raised the ire of bar/restaurant owners, but has since been a model for a handful of other cities around the world; he set up the centralized hotline for city services, 311; he tackled education reform with the help of schools chancellor Joel Klein; he went after the gun lobby, dispatching the city's chief lawyer Michael Cardozo to file suit against unscrupulous gun dealers; and he championed wide-ranging development efforts across the city. Most importantly, he managed to revive a city that had been reeling from the effects of 9/11 when he first arrived on the job, spurring efforts to redevelop Lower Manhattan and helping get the city's tourism industry get back on its feet after what appeared to be a economic catastrophe of epic proportions. And he did it all with infinitely more sensitivity than his combative predecessor, Rudy Giuliani.

Of course, his tenure has been marked by a number of high-profile failures. Bloomberg and former deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff went on the offensive in support of the 2012 Olympic bid and the construction of a new Jets stadium in Midtown. Both were big losers. More recently, his quest for congestion pricing earned him his first big defeat of 2008. But with more successes than failures under his belt, a high approval rating, and plenty of money in the bank, it wasn't altogether shocking when news emerged that Bloomberg was flirting with an independent run for the White House in 2008.

The early signs suggested he planned to give it a go. In mid-2007, Bloomberg dropped his Republican affiliation, a move that prompted the first frenzy of speculation. Kevin Sheekey, one of his most trusted aides, was soon talking up his chances with reporters and organizing a team to conduct extensive research into a potential presidential bid. And Bloomberg himself started jetting around the country to elevate his profile on the national political scene. In February 2007, he put the issue to rest in a Times op-ed, indicating he had no plans to pursue the White House. But rumors continue to fly. There's been speculation about Bloomberg's possible intentions to run for governor or senate. Assuming he decides against pursuing another elected office—and assuming he doesn't join someone else's administration—he'll likely do what he's long said he plans to do after his second term is up: devote himself to his philanthropic activities. He'll be plenty busy. He has said he intends to donate all his money to charity before he dies.

Keeping score

Bloomberg's net worth has always been difficult to calculate, since Bloomberg LP is a private company. A Wall Street Journal report in 2007 suggested his stake in the company (he owns 68 percent of it) was worth in the neighborhood of $13 billion. Forbes, which had long underestimated his net worth, now suggests he's worth $11.5 billion, making him the fourth-richest New Yorker. From the standpoint of a taxpayer, though, Bloomberg's a deal: he takes a salary of just $1 a year.

Inner circle

Much like he did at his eponymous media company, Bloomberg sits in an open "bullpen" with his top deputies. (A private office is nearby for confidential sessions.) His closest advisors—and bullpen-mates—include Kevin Sheekey, who championed his campaign for president; Patti Harris, the city's deputy mayor; and Ed Skyler, his former spinmeister who is now a deputy mayor. (Dan Doctoroff, once part of Bloomie's inner circle, left City Hall in late '07 to become the president of Bloomberg L.P. He was replaced by Robert Lieber.) Other administration officials and top commissioners include Ray Kelly, Nicholas Scoppetta, Adrian Benepe, Matt Daus, Linda Gibbs, John Mattingly, Amanda Burden, Kate Levin, Joel Klein, Michael Cardozo, Thomas Frieden, Katherine Oliver, John Doherty, and Janette Sadik-Khan.

In person

Bloomberg's driver license lists his height as 5-feet-10. He's actually 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8, by most estimates. (He's still taller than former mayors Fiorello La Guardia and Abe Beame: They were both 5-foot-2.) You might get a glimpse of the mayor if you hop on the 4 train in the morning. Famously, Bloomberg takes the subway to work at City Hall. Keep in mind, though, that he doesn't get on at the stop closest to him. His black SUV (with police escort) picks him up at home and deposits him at the station at 59th and Lexington so he can catch the express train.

Personal

Bloomberg met British-born Susan Brown in 1973 and the couple married in 1976. They had two daughters—Georgina and Emma—before divorcing amicably in 1993. Since 2001, Bloomberg has been dating Diana Taylor, a former state banking superintendent. (They were introduced by Diana Fortuna.) His younger sister, Marjorie Tiven, works for the city, too: She heads up the New York City Commission for the United Nations, Consular Corps and Protocol, which means she talks to people at the U.N. so Mayor Mike doesn't have to.

Habitat

Bloomberg doesn't live in Gracie Mansion, saving it for official events and to house visiting dignitaries. (That didn't stop him from having his interior designer Jamie Drake re-do the mansion at a cost of $7 million in 2002.) The mayor lives in a townhouse on East 79th Street; the 7,500-square foot home, which Drake also decorated, features an Egyptian marble foyer and his collection of European art; he's also spent a total of $86 million in recent years to purchase two buildings on the same block that will eventually house his non-profit foundation. He spends weekends and vacations in Bermuda (his home in Tucker's Town overlooks the ocean); London (he has a townhouse on Cadogan Square worth an estimated $30 million); Vail (a ski house); and Westchester (an estate in Armonk). His private jet ferries him from home to home.

No joke

Turns out that Bloomberg is listed the White Pages—and people occasionally call to register their complaints. (It's rare, though, that the mayor himself answers.) The number? It's 212-772-1081.