Michael Bloomberg Is Worth Much More Than People Think

From re/code:

Forbes says Mike Bloomberg is worth $35.6 billion. Donald Trump says it can’t be that much. They’re both wrong. Here’s the real number: $48.8 billion. 

Why should anyone care? The game of how much billionaires are worth is an often silly exercise that nonetheless matters a great deal to the absurdly wealthy, even when it typically involves irrationally large sums that have little practical day-to-day value. 

Still, it’s fun to play along, especially when it involves Bloomberg, who is considering a possible presidential bid to topple Trump, the reality TV star who may or may not be worth quite as much as he claims. Also, tech people love the idea of a Bloomberg bid, so it’s worth taking a closer look at how much he’s got. 

Forbes’ estimate of Bloomberg’s wealth makes him the eleventh-richest person in the world and the the sixth-richest technology executive behind Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page. (That ranking, by the way, changes daily. It’s not hard to imagine who might want to check it regularly.) 

Based on our calculation, $48.8 billion would bump Bloomberg up the Forbes list to fifth, ahead of Zuckerberg and Page. Spokespeople for Bloomberg declined to comment. 

Our number is different because the Forbes ranking is based on a 2013 analysis of Bloomberg’s company, Bloomberg LP. We updated the estimate with our own reporting and a slightly different, I think better, analysis. Disclosure: I was a media reporter for Bloomberg News from 2011 to 2013....

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