5 Money-Making Lessons You Can Learn From Billionaire Michael Bloomberg

Yahoo

06-05-2025

Michael Bloomberg is a media tycoon worth over $100 billion. He's currently the 16th richest person in the world, according to Forbes. He was also the mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and continues to donate billions through his philanthropic efforts.
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But Michael Bloomberg didn't just wake up a billionaire one day without putting in hard work over several decades. And though attaining billion-dollar status may be out of reach for most, we can study successful entrepreneurs to take away valuable lessons that can help us similarly build wealth.
Bloomberg has built most of his fortune from his media company, but there are some strategic moves he's made over the life of his career that we can draw lessons from.
Here are a few of the most impactful money-making lessons from Michael Bloomberg.
Treat Your Job Like Your Own Business
After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1966, Bloomberg got a job at Salomon Brothers — a Wall Street firm. He started at an entry-level position, but then became a bond trader. He eventually made partner, but was later demoted to run the computer systems department.
Bloomberg took his knowledge of business and information systems to build out smart computer information systems for Salomon. His success came from hard work and ultimately treating Salomon like his own business. He knew that giving traders access to real-time information could help them make smarter trades — and he was right.
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Take Big Risks, Move Quickly
Eventually, Salomon was sold to publicly-traded company Phibro Corporation, and Bloomberg was asked to leave. To buy out his equity, Phibro paid out a $10 million severance to Bloomberg.
Using $4 million of the severance and the knowledge he gained as a bond trader and information systems manager at Salomon, Bloomberg quickly started up his own company. Innovative Market Solutions was launched in a 10′ x 10′ room with a few friends who previously worked for Salomon.
He knew that he wanted to build the industry's foremost trading information terminal, and — using his electrical engineering background — built a terminal that gave traders access to information on the Treasury Bond market.
He eventually sold 22 MarketMaster terminals to Merrill Lynch and received a $30 million investment for a 30% stake in the company. His risk-taking and fast moves to stay ahead of the technology curve paid off.