Bloomberg network used widely in finance directs to his campaign site: report

The Bloomberg terminal network, which is used widely in the financial sector, was directing users to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign site, The Financial Times reported on Thursday.

{mosads}When users typed in “MIKE,” “Mike” or “Mike Bloomberg,” the terminal led them directly to Bloomberg’s 2020 campaign page, which did not occur with any of the other candidates, according to the Times.

Users were directed to a video that talked about how Bloomberg went from “a middle-class kid who had to work his way through college” to a billionaire media executive and mayor of America’s largest city.

When other candidates such as President Trump and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), are searched, the $20,000-a-year service comes up with a biography page including business information, a photo and recent news stories, according to the Times. 

Ty Trippet, a Bloomberg spokesman, published a statement on Twitter saying, “We’ve updated that function to go to the bio page just like anyone else. Thanks for pointing out what was clearly an oversight when the site became a campaign site.”

Trippet told The Hill in a statement that the “MIKE” function had been in operation since the 1990s, when he used it to promote his autobiography. Since then, it had directed users to MikeBloomberg.com. 

“For many years until today, that terminal function redirected to MikeBloomberg.com, which has long been dedicated to highlighting his philanthropic work in which he’s given away $10 billion to causes including education, environment, government innovation, public health and more,” Trippet said. “This function is not in any way controlled by the news or editorial operation.”

The Hill reached out to the Bloomberg campaign for further comment, and the campaign deferred to the company for comment.

Bloomberg’s news service, meanwhile, has been coping with how to cover its founder objectively after he jumped into the presidential race last month. In November, Bloomberg News announced that its reporters and editors could not investigate Bloomberg or his Democratic 2020 opponents to prevent coverage from favoring him.

Trump has since banned Bloomberg News reporters from his campaign events and rallies, alleging bias, which Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait said “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

RealClear Politics has Bloomberg ranked fifth among 2020 Democrats after Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-Calif.) exit this week.