User:Ordwayen/Bloomberg L.P. Sandbox



Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial software, data and media company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1981 by Michael R. Bloomberg, the company provides financial software tools such as an analytics and equity trading platform, data services and news to financial companies and organizations through the Bloomberg terminal (via its Bloomberg Professional Service), its core money-generating product. Bloomberg L.P. also includes a wire service, a global television network, a radio station, websites, subscription-only newsletters and two magazines, Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Markets.

Background
In 1981, Michael R. Bloomberg was fired from financial investment firm Salomon Brothers after Salomon's merger with commodities-trading firm Philbro Corporation. Bloomberg, having designed in-house computerized financial systems for Salomon, used his $10 million severance check to start Innovative Market Systems (IMS) with the help of Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillian and Charles Zegar. Bloomberg developed and built his own computerized system to provide real-time market data, financial calculations and other financial analytics to Wall Street firms. In 1983, Merrill Lynch invested $30 million in IMS to help finance the development of "the Bloomberg" terminal computer system and by 1984, IMS was selling machines to all of Merrill Lynch's clients.

In 1986, the company was renamed Bloomberg L.P., and by 1985, 5,000 terminals had been installed in subscribers' offices. Within a few years, ancillary products including Bloomberg Tradebook, a trading platform; the Bloomberg Messaging Service, an internal communication service between subscribers; and Bloomberg Business News, a news wire service, were launched. In late 1996, Bloomberg bought back one-third of Merrill Lynch's 30 percent stake in the company for $200 million, increasing the company's market value to $2 billion. In 2008, facing losses during the financial crisis, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell its remaining 20 percent stake in the company back to Bloomberg, Inc., the trust that manages Michael Bloomberg's assets, for a reported $4.43 billion. After the sale, Bloomberg L.P. was valued at approximately $22.5 billion.

Bloomberg L.P. has remained a private company since its founding; the majority of which is owned by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg served as chief executive until 2001 when he ran for mayor of New York City against Democrat Mark J. Green. During his 2001 mayoral campaign and subsequent victory, Bloomberg relinquished his day-to-day leadership responsibilities to Lex Fenwick, the company's former head of U.S. and European sales. Peter Grauer was also named Chairman of the Board that same year. In July 2011, Daniel Doctoroff was promoted to Bloomberg L.P.'s chief executive officer, assuming major responsibility from Peter Grauer. Grauer remains as Bloomberg L.P. chairman.

Company performance
In 2011, Bloomberg L.P. services accounted for a third of the $16 billion global financial data market. At this time, the company had sold more than 310,000 terminals worldwide. Moreover, the company brought in nearly $7 billion in annual revenue, with 85 percent coming from terminal sales. In 2010, Bloomberg L.P.'s market share stood at 30.3 percent, compared with 25.1 percent in 2005. In 2011, the company had 15,000 employees in 192 locations around the world, including over 2,300 Bloomberg News editorial staff reporting from 146 news bureaus.

Acquisitions
Since its founding, Bloomberg L.P. has continued to grow through a series of strategic acquisitions including the radio station WNEW, BusinessWeek magazine, research company New Energy Finance and the Bureau of National Affairs.

WNEW
In 1992, Bloomberg L.P. purchased New York Radio station WNEW for $13.5 million. The station was converted into an all-news format, known as Bloomberg Radio, and the call letters were changed to WBBR.

BusinessWeek
Bloomberg L.P. bought weekly business magazine BusinessWeek from McGraw-Hill in 2009. The company acquired the magazine - which was suffering from declining advertising revenue and limited circulation numbers - to attract general business to its media audience composed primarily of terminal subscribers. Following the acquisition, BusinessWeek was renamed Bloomberg Businessweek. Josh Tyrangiel serves as editor.

New Energy Finance
In 2009, Bloomberg L.P. purchased New Energy Finance, a data company focused on energy investment and carbon markets research based in the United Kingdom. New Energy Finance was created in 2004 by Michael Liebreich to provide news, data and analysis on carbon and clean energy markets. Bloomberg L.P. acquired the company to become an industry resource for information to support low-carbon energy solutions. Leibreich continues to lead the company, serving as the chief executive officer.

Bureau of National Affairs (BNA)
Bloomberg L.P. purchased Arlington, Virginia-based BNA in August 2011 to bolster its existing Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg Law services. Founded in 1929, BNA publishes specialized online and print news and information for professionals in business and government. The company produces more than 350 daily, weekly, monthly and up-to-the-minute news publications in topic areas that include corporate law and business, employee benefits, employment and labor law, environment, health and safety, health care, human resources, intellectual property, litigation, and tax and accounting.

Bloomberg Professional Service
In 2011, sales from the Bloomberg Professional Service, also known as the Bloomberg terminal, accounted for more than 85 percent of Bloomberg L.P.'s annual revenue. The proprietary computer system, available for $1,500 per month, allows subscribers to access the Bloomberg Professional service to monitor and analyze real-time financial data, search financial news, obtain price quotes and send electronic messages through the secure Bloomberg Messaging Service. Terminal subscribers also receive Bloomberg Markets magazine, a monthly publication for financial professionals and traders.

Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg and Matthew Winkler in 1990 to deliver financial news reporting to Bloomberg terminal subscribers. In 2010, Bloomberg News included more than 2,300 editors and reporters in 72 countries and 146 new bureaus worldwide. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through the Bloomberg terminal, Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg Markets and Bloomberg.com. Co-founder Matthew Winkler still serves as editor-in-chief.

Bloomberg Television
Bloomberg Television, a service of Bloomberg News, is a 24-hour financial news television network. It was introduced in 1994 as a subscription service transmitted on satellite television provider DirecTV, 13 hours a day, 7 days a week. In 1995, the network entered the cable television market and by 2000, Bloomberg's 24-hour news programming was being aired to 200 million households. Andy Lack serves as CEO of Multimedia which includes Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Television and online components of Bloomberg's multimedia offerings.

Bloomberg Markets
Originally launched in July 1992 under the title "Bloomberg: A Magazine for Bloomberg Users", Bloomberg Markets was a monthly magazine given to all Bloomberg terminal subscribers. In addition to providing international financial news to industry professionals, the magazine included points for navigating terminal functionality. In 2010, the magazine was redesigned in an effort to update the it's readership beyond terminal users. In addition to design changes, the editors added regular coverage of careers and personal finance following a global survey of readers. Ron Henkoff has served as editor of Bloomberg Markets since 1999 and Michael Dukmejian has served as the magazine's publisher since 2009.

Bloomberg Government
Launched in 2011, Bloomberg Government is an online service that provides news and information about politics, along legislative and regulatory coverage. The service is sold via subscription for $5,700 a year and provides access to a database offering information such as campaign contributions breakdowns, analysis of federal contracting, directories of agency and congressional staff members and detailed analysis of legislation and regulation.

Bloomberg Law
In 2009, Bloomberg L.P. introduced Bloomberg Law, a subscription service for real-time legal research. A subscription to the service provides access to law dockets legal filings and reports from Bloomberg legal analysts as well as business news and information.

Bloomberg View
Bloomberg View is an editorial division of Bloomberg News which launched in May 2011. Bloomberg View provides editorial content from columnists, authors and editors about news issues and is available for free on the company's website and also is disseminated via the Bloomberg terminal and the company's other media platforms. David Shipley, former Op-Ed page editor at the The New York Times, serves as Bloomberg View's executive editor.

Bloomberg Tradebook
Bloomberg Tradebook, LLC. is an electronic agency brokerage for equity, futures, options and foreign exchange trades. Its "buyside" services include access to trading algorithms, analytics and marketing insights, while its "sellside" services include connection to electronic trading networks and global trading capabilities. Bloomberg Tradebook was founded in 1996 as an affiliate of Bloomberg L.P.

Locations
Bloomberg L.P.'s headquarters is located in the Bloomberg Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. As of 2011, Bloomberg L.P. occupied 900000 sqft of office space at the base of the tower which served more than 4,000 employees. The company's New York offices also include 400000 sqft located at 120 Park Avenue. It maintains offices in more than 192 locations around the world, including Washington D.C., London and Hong Kong.

Corporate culture
The Bloomberg L.P. offices have been described in The New Yorker and Newsweek as "high-energy" and "babbling" due in part to the open, visible, newsroom-style set up that features long rows of uniform desks offset by glass-enclosed conference rooms, couches, and small glass-walled meeting rooms for private calls and meetings. The office space is non-hierarchical and even the executives do not have private offices. They join some 4,000 employees at identical white desks each topped with a custom-built Bloomberg computer terminal. The office space also includes rows of flat-panel monitors overhead that display news, market data, the weather and Bloomberg customer service statistics. CNN Money described the headquarters - along with the company's other offices - as being designed to convey "high style," referring to the decor of modern art, exotic flowers and fish tanks filled with rare fish.

Leadership
In 2011, Bloomberg L.P.'s Management Committee included Daniel Doctoroff, Peter Grauer, Thomas Secunda, Lex Fenwick, Matt Winkler and Beth Mazzeo. Doctoroff serves as chief executive officer and president of the company, with Grauer as chairman and Secunda as vice chairman.

EEOC v. Bloomberg L.P.
In September 2007, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a class-action lawsuit against Bloomberg L.P. on behalf of more than 80 female employees who argued that Bloomberg L.P. engaged in discrimination against women who took maternity leave. In August 2011, Judge Loretta A. Preska of the Federal District Court in Manhattan dismissed the charges, writing that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission did not present sufficient evidence to support their claim.

Bloomberg L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
Bloomberg L.P. and Fox News Network brought a lawsuit against the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve System to force the Fed to share details about its lending programs during the U.S. Government bailout in 2008. The records, requested by a Bloomberg reporter under the Freedom of Information Act, documented Federal Reserve loans issued to financial firms and revealed the identities of the firms, the amounts borrowed and the collateral posted in return. Bloomberg, L.P. won at the trial court level. The Second Circuit Court ruled in favor of Bloomberg L.P. in March 2010, but the case was appealed to the Supreme Court by a group of large U.S. commercial banks in October. In March 2011, the Supreme Crout let stand the Second Circuit Court ruling mandating the release of Fed bailout details.