Bloomberg out after spending $500m, endorses former Veep

NEW YORK: Over the course of 101 days, Michael Bloomberg spent over $500 million of his own fortune in a quixotic bid for the presidency that collapsed in stunning fashion on Tuesday night, when he won just one US territory, American Samoa.

By Wednesday morning, he quit the race and endorsed former vice-president Joe Biden, saying his continued presence in the rapidly shrinking field would make it harder for the party to defeat Republican President Donald Trump in November, his ultimate priority. The billionaire businessman worth an estimated $61 billion pledged to keep spending to defeat Trump.

But that money wasn’t enough to sell voters on the idea that a billionaire businessman and former New York City mayor with bottomless resources was the Democratic Party’s best choice.

While Bloomberg went from a non-existent campaign to a staff of 2,400 people across 43 states in less than three months, he won none of the 14 states that voted and picked up just a handful of delegates in states where he had cautiously hoped for victory as recently as last week.

That was before Biden’s resurgence in South Carolina and the rapid realignment of Democrats behind him. Two of Bloomberg’s former Democratic rivals, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden as the moderate alternative to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders just the day before Super Tuesday.

Bloomberg said he has known Biden for a long time and knows Biden’s commitment to issues including gun safety, health care, climate change and good jobs. “I’ve had the chance to work with Joe on those issues over the years, and Joe has fought for working people his whole life,” Bloomberg said. “Today I am glad to endorse him - and I will work to make him the next President of the US.”

Bloomberg, 78, is one of the world’s richest men, worth $61 billion. His fortune flows from the financial data and media company that bears his name, which he started in the 1980s.