As he begins a new campaign to use his fortune to prevent the construction of petrochemical plants, Michael R. Bloomberg outlined the fate of his company Bloomberg LP after his death. He said his foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, would inherit his multibillion-dollar company and eventually sell it.
“At 81 years old, common sense says I should have succession plans,” the former New York City mayor said at a climate summit hosted by The New York Times in Manhattan on Thursday.
He added: “I give almost all of the company’s profits to the foundation, and last year the foundation donated $1.7 billion.” “This year it will be a little more than that. But when I die, the foundation inherits the company. They will have to, because of tax laws, dispose of it, sell it somewhere or other for the first five years.”
Mr. Bloomberg owns an 88% stake in the company behind Wall Street’s favorite data terminals, which generated revenues of more than $12 billion in 2022. He said he has no plans to sell the company in the near future and hopes to continue working with it. At least another three to five years. “I know exactly what I want to do,” he added.
Mr. Bloomberg recently set his sights on blocking the construction of new petrochemical plants that make fertilizers, plastics and packaging. He said he chose to focus on this arm of fighting climate change because it was “irrational” to think that the entire fossil fuel sector would simply disappear.
“We’re not going to avoid using oil for the next 10 or 15 years,” he said, “and we’re not going to say that everyone who has a gas-guzzling car can’t drive it anymore, and they’re going to have to start walking today. You have to be practical.”
Targeting petrochemical plants could directly lead to change, Gina McCarthy, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said at the same hearing.
“Let’s be real,” she said. “One of the reasons Mike’s campaigns are so successful is that they bring it down to the people level. I’m tired of arguing about greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is that people are unhealthy.”
Targeting petrochemical plants will begin to limit the harm to many communities, especially communities of color, said Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., president and CEO of the hip-hop youth group Caucus and senior advisor for Bloomberg Philanthropies’ “Beyond Petrochemicals” campaign.
“We have children dying from asthma and emphysema, and we have the solutions,” Pastor Yearwood said. “It becomes almost disgusting to then look at certain communities, my fellow Americans, and say I can put this in this community and sentence them to death. That’s not it.”
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