Michael Bloomberg lost job in 1981. How a Wall Street exit changed nature of finance

UPDATED: Aug 27, 2026 21:14 IST

Michael Bloomberg was 39 years old in 1981, and had spent 15 years at Salomon Brothers. He started at an entry-level position and eventually became a general partner, which built him a career on Wall Street. The company was soon acquired by Phibro Corporation, and Bloomberg was pushed out. Turns out, it was the only full-time job he had ever had.

As a partner, Bloomberg received about $10 million for his stake in the firm, and instead of looking for another Wall Street job, he used the opportunity to start a company of his own. That company was initially called Innovative Market Systems, which would eventually become Bloomberg L.P.

SO, WHAT DID BLOOMBERG ACTUALLY WANT TO BUILD?

While working at Salomon, Bloomberg had been put in charge of developing the firm's information systems. He saw a problem that traders dealt with every day: financial information was spread across different sources, and getting useful market data could be slow and tiring. Why not put all that information on a computer and make it available instantly?

At the time, this was not as obvious as it sounds today, since personal computers and the internet were not yet part of everyday office life. Bloomberg's idea was to build a dedicated computer system that could bring together real-time financial data, calculations and analytics on a trader's desk. Bloomberg initially invested about $300,000 and brought three former Salomon colleagues into the business: Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan and Charles Zegar, who all worked out of a small Manhattan office.

THE FIRST CUSTOMER WAS MERRILL LYNCH

Bloomberg approached Merrill Lynch, one of Wall Street's biggest firms at the time. The company agreed to test his system, but the condition was that Bloomberg had to produce a working machine within six months, which he did. The first system was delivered to Merrill Lynch in April 1982 and was initially known as the Market Master. It could provide information on government bonds and perform financial calculations. Merrill Lynch then ordered 20 terminals and invested $30 million in Innovative Market Systems for a 30 per cent stake in the company.

That deal gave the young company exactly what it needed: a major financial institution that was willing to use and back its technology. The business model was different from simply selling software, since Bloomberg's company was providing the hardware, data and analytical tools together, with customers paying for access to the system.

WHY WAS THE TERMINAL DIFFERENT?

Before Bloomberg, financial professionals could get market information through a mixture of telephone calls, printed reports, news services and separate data systems, and the Bloomberg Terminal brought much of that information into one place. A trader could look up prices and compare financial data without constantly moving between different sources. The technology also became interactive; users could manipulate the information rather than simply read a stream of prices. It came at a time when speed was becoming increasingly important in financial markets.

The terminal launched commercially in the early 1980s and gradually expanded beyond government bonds. Bloomberg added more market data, analytical functions and financial news, and turned the product into a broader information service. By the early 1990s, the company had installed more than 10,000 Bloomberg Professional terminals and had begun expanding internationally, according to Bloomberg's own history.

FROM A FINANCIAL TERMINAL TO A MEDIA COMPANY

Bloomberg eventually moved into financial news as well: in 1990, the company launched Bloomberg Business News, later known as Bloomberg News. It gave terminal users access to its own reporting alongside the financial data already available on the system, and that combination became an important part of the company's identity.

Instead of having one business selling terminals and another selling news, Bloomberg connected the two. Financial professionals could get market data, analysis and news through the same service. The company continued expanding into television, radio, magazines, online publishing and other financial services.

The original problem remained at its centre: how do you get useful financial information to the people who need it, as quickly as possible? Bloomberg managed to combine his experience in trading with his understanding of information systems and build a product around the specific needs of financial professionals. That turned a $10 million partnership payout following a career-ending job loss into the starting point for one of the world's best-known financial information companies.

Even after four decades, the company Bloomberg founded remains privately held, while its Bloomberg Professional service has grown into a global platform for financial data, analytics and news.

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