Michael Bloomberg will not run for president in 2020, the billionaire businessman wrote in a statement posted online on Tuesday, ending months of speculation about the political future of one of the Democratic Party's top donors.
Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, had been toying with the idea of a presidential run for months and was floated as a candidate in every presidential cycle going back to 2008. As recently as the past two months, aides to Bloomberg had been interviewing potential staffers in Iowa and New Hampshire, early contests in the Democratic primary.
But, facing a packed field of Democratic contenders, Bloomberg, 77, wrote he was "clear-eyed" about the obstacles to securing the party's nomination.
