Michael Bloomberg's 2016 Ambitions May Shake Up The Race -- And His Media Company

Bloomberg, the media company, made a big bet on the 2016 election by dropping millions on star political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, launching a new politics site and producing a daily Bloomberg TV show that's also simulcast on MSNBC. Now Bloomberg, the man, is considering his own 2016 bet on an independent run -- one that would shake up not only the presidential race, but also his namesake news organization.

Michael Bloomberg left his eponymous company in 2001 to run for mayor of New York City, an office he went on to hold for three terms. He returned as company CEO in September 2014 and immediately made his presence felt. He set up a desk in the newsroom and installed a new top editor, and helped shift the company's focus away from consumer-facing sites and back toward the kind of bread-and-butter topics, like global business and finance, desired by subscribers. A White House run -- or perhaps even the time needed to consider one -- would again pull Bloomberg out of the newsroom, which is now grappling with how to cover his latest presidential flirtation.