Billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg is preparing to spend at least $500 million from his own pocket to deny President Donald Trump a second term.
Bloomberg who's worth an estimated $50 billion has not announced whether or not he'll run for president but Democratic operatives told Politico that the billionaire former mayor of New York is prepared to spend big either way.
If he runs, Bloomberg will use the funds to fuel his campaign through the crowded Democratic primary where at least 10 contenders are already vying for the party's nomination. If he doesn't run, he would use the money to run a data-heavy campaign that would work as a shadow apparatus for the Democratic nominee.
'That'll get us through the first few months. Mike spent $100 million in his last New York City election. And you can do the math as you think more broadly but New York City is 3 percent of the national population/ I'm not suggesting it's straight math.
But I'm suggesting that when Mike Bloomberg is committed to making a difference and seeing something though, generally speaking he's pretty unabashed in doing so' Kevin Sheekey, a top Bloomberg advisor told Politico.
It's not the first time the former mayor's team has indicated Bloomberg is willing to heavily invest in getting Trump out of the Oval Office. In December, Bloomberg's top political adviser Howard Wolfson indicated to CNBC that Bloomberg was willing to put his money where his mouth was and spend more than $100 million to win the presidency.
