Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has taken his first official steps to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, positioning himself as a centrist standard bearer who could defeat Donald Trump.
Mr Bloomberg, who ran for mayor as a Republican, had entertained a presidential campaign as a Democrat earlier in the year but dropped out in March, saying he was “clear eyed” about the difficulty of breaking through a crowded field where much of the energy has been with candidates well to his left.
People close to him say he has spent recent months studying the Democratic field but he had held back as Joe Biden, the former vice-president, remained the frontrunner.