Posted on 02/13/2020 3:43:58 PM PST by Hojczyk
Michael Bloomberg is very rich. And not just billionaire rich — he’s one of the richest people in the world, clocking in at more than $50 billion. How he got there: a computer system most people have never heard of, let alone seen.
Bloomberg is the founder of Bloomberg LP, a private, multibillion-dollar firm he launched in 1981. Today, the company does a lot of things — it deals in data, in technology, and in media — but it came to prominence because of the Bloomberg Terminal, a computer software system for the financial industry that basically puts all the relevant information, capabilities, and people in the same place.
It still looks like it’s straight out of the ’80s — it’s got a black background, lots of neon text, early days computing-style block letters, and a funny-looking keyboard — and it isn’t the easiest system to navigate, but it’s established a grip on Wall Street that competitors haven’t really been able to shake. Subscriptions cost between $20,000 and $24,000 annually, and right now, there are more than 325,000 subscribers signed up.
Basically, it’s still the place a lot of traders, analysts, and executives prefer to do their work. And because so many of the movers and shakers are already there, if you want to be the next big thing in finance, you want to be there, too. You’re not going to win the Super Bowl if you aren’t even playing in the right stadium.
(Excerpt) Read more at vox.com ...
So the data passes through his servers before it gets to the destination. Sounds like a good way to get the information you need to make an easy billion.
We had Bloomberg, Shark and our own proprietary data distribution systems when I worked for a govvies brokerage back in the mid-80s. The article makes it sound as though this was some super-secret system. It ain’t.
I actually thought he rented those terminals out at $20,000 a month not annually. He basically has a monopoly and Trump should let the antitrust division loose on him.
mini Mike basically had a monopoly. He’s a one-trick pony.
Shows what a middle class kid fired at 39 can do with an eight million dollar buyout.
Its tied to bond traders. It was the first system to list all the important information required to trade bonds. While it does other things as well. Its really bond traders that value a Bloomberg Terminal most. You notice that you can see stocks on almost any system. You rarely see specific bonds listed.
https://twitter.com/love4thegameak/status/1228070096435695617?s=21
Check this out. Mini Mike not real quick on his feet.
One of the greatest commercials ever made.
It ran for 12 years. That’s absolutely astounding by today’s standards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Mikey
I wonder if the Folgers Christmas ad “Peter Comes Homes” ran longer? I think it did, but I’m not sure.
https://www.brandlandusa.com/2008/12/18/folgers-peter-tells-of-classic-xmas-commercial/
Its funny how opaque the bond market is.
There are large bid-ask spreads, and information is hard to find.
At the same time, the magnitude of the debt market is much larger than the stock market. It’s not surprising when you realize that most companies carry a lot of debt compared to their equity.
There are several times as many bond issues as there are outstanding types of stocks... maybe ten times as many. And, the volume of trading in most bond issues is smaller than most listed stocks.
That’s why, aside from Treasury issues, most bond trading is done by professionals. The bid-ask spread is too large. Retail investors invest via funds, such as ETFs or mutuals.
Clever Mikey.
Actually, $2,000-$2,500/mo. is what I recall - as in the article. There was also add-on, subscription content that could add to that - research, quotation services, market feeds, etc. It was the original content aggregator on Wall St., and focused exclusively on that community. You literally could not function in the trading world unless you had access to a Bloomberg terminal.
As others noted, all of that information passing through a centralized computing structure would provide someone with less-tha-pure motives the opportunity to capitalize on this non-public information.
Another major feature - and one that made the service invaluable - was the built in messaging service. This gave any user the opportunity to communicate directly and privately with any other user. Were "tips" shared across this network? Certainly! Wall St. has always been in insider's game, and all the players rely on these terminals to play the game.
He doesn't have a monopoly. Thompson-Reuters is the main competition and has their own slightly cheaper terminal for rent. In the financial information space, Bloomberg has about 33% market share to Thompson-Reuters 23%. Then there's smaller players like Moody's.
He had three partners only one of which was a programmer. Bloomy provided the funding. I doubt very seriously that he provided much to the development.
My aunt (RIP) was the ad executive on that commercial and it has become her legacy. Thank you
https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-flips-out-over-bloomberg-spying-2013-5
Goldman Sachs recently confronted Bloomberg LP after learning that reporters for the business news service have been using the company’s terminals to monitor employees of the Wall Street bank, Mark Decambre of The New York Post reports.
Specifically, Goldman officials learned that Bloomberg staffers could determine not only which of its employees had logged into Bloomberg’s proprietary terminals but also how many times they had used particular functions, sources told The Post.
My pleasure. I wish I were not old enough to remember it. :)
Laura Ingraham had a good segment on pro-China Bloomberg today. hope someone can locate it and post it.
“the Bloomberg Terminal, a computer software system for the financial industry”
Does it skim fractions of pennies from each account?
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