News Information and Media Site: Byers Market: Mike Bloomberg's $$ network; Jeff Bezos' big give

February 18, 2020

By DYLAN BYERS in Los Angeles &

AHIZA GARCÍA-HODGES in San Francisco

Good morning. 🇺🇸 New this a.m.: Mike Bloomberg has qualified for this Wednesday's NBC News & MSNBC Democratic Debate after clearing the 10-percent hurdle in four national polls, including this morning's NPR/PBS/Marist poll.

• What's next: Bloomberg campaign sources told us last week that the candidate was committed to appearing on stage if he qualified.

Join the Market.

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🇺🇸 Election 2020

Mike Bloomberg's $$ network

Moving the Market: Mike Bloomberg's philanthropic and political spending has given him "a national infrastructure of influence, image-making and unspoken suasion" that has helped him become "a plausible contender for the Democratic nomination," NYT's Alex Burns and Nicholas Kulish report.

• The big picture: Bloomberg's "political rise has become a test of the impact one man's wealth can have when he applies it to the political system with driving sophistication."

How to Spend It: The $401 million that Bloomberg has spent on his campaign so far "pales in comparison with what he spent in prior years, positioning himself as a national leader with presidential ambitions."

• Bloomberg is "the single most important political donor to the Democratic Party and its causes. His personal fortune... is estimated at over $60 billion."

• His advocacy network "has directed policy in dozens of states and cities; mobilized movements to take on gun violence and climate change; rewritten election laws and health regulations; and elected scores of politicians to offices as modest as the school board and as lofty as the Senate."

What's next: Bloomberg's "political and philanthropic spending has... secured the allegiance or cooperation of powerful institutions and leaders within the Democratic Party who might take issue with parts of his record were they not so reliant on his largess."

• "In interviews with The Times, no one described being threatened or coerced by Mr. Bloomberg or his money. But many said his wealth was an inescapable consideration — a gravitational force powerful enough to make coercion unnecessary."

The bigger picture: "This is... really about all billionaire philanthropy," Recode's Teddy Schleifer notes. "Charity isn't just an act of generosity — it is often an effective way to convert a billionaire's excess money into enormous power."

Justin Sullivan/Getty

🇺🇸 The Coming Clash

Bloomberg vs. Bernie

Talk of the Trail: "The Democratic primary is careening toward a head-to-head clash between Michael Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders, currently the only two candidates with the cash and constituencies to push their candidacies beyond the first four states and Super Tuesday," Snap's Peter Hamby reports for Vanity Fair.

• The latest: The Bloomberg and Sanders campaigns have been locked in a war of words since Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey accused Sanders of deploying Trump-like tactics against his candidate.

The big picture: Bloomberg and Sanders "offer divergent theories of what the 2020 presidential election is all about," WSJ's Gerry Seib writes. "Mr. Sanders believes Democratic voters are ready to overthrow the system. Mr. Bloomberg thinks they merely want to overthrow President Trump."

🏙️ Moving Midtown 🏙️

Two months after Mike Bloomberg launched his campaign, Bloomberg News reporters are still upset that their boss won't let them "investigate" him and his competitors, NYT's Michael Grynbaum reports.

• What's next: The discussion is starting to turn toward "what a President Bloomberg could mean for a news organization already grappling with a perceived conflict of interest."

Mandel Ngan/Getty

How to Give It

Jeff Bezos' new climate pledge

The Big Give: Jeff Bezos is pledging $10 billion to fight climate change through a new Bezos Earth Fund. The pledge will fund "scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world," he wrote on Instagram.

• Bezos: "Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share."

The big picture: "The Bezos climate pledge [will] radically reorder the funding landscape. Bezos may soon be giving more for climate annually than the next top five funders combined," says David Callahan, the founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy.

• What's next: Bezos says he will start issuing grants this summer.

Bonus: PBS Frontline's "Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos" premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET on PBS stations.

Bloomberg/Getty

Cost of Coronavirus

Tim Cook takes COVID-19 hit

Big in the Bay: Tim Cook says Apple will miss its projected revenue for the March quarter because of the new coronavirus. He cited two reasons for the miss: a temporarily constrained global iPhone supply and reduced demand for Apple products in China.

• The big picture: Cook told staff that "Apple is fundamentally strong, and this disruption to our business is only temporary."

What's next: Apple says it's "more than doubling" its previous aid to support the crisis. Apple will provide more info on its next earnings call in April.

Kenzo Tribouillard/Getty

Facebook Abroad

Mark Zuckerberg in Europe

Big in Brussels: "Mark Zuckerberg met top European Union officials on a visit to Brussels on Monday, days before the bloc is expected to release new proposals on regulating artificial intelligence," AP's Kelvin Chan reports.

• "Zuckerberg met Margrethe Vestager, the EU's powerful executive vice president... Thierry Breton, commissioner for the internal market, and Vera Jourova, vice president for values and transparency."

• Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai and Apple's senior vice president for artificial intelligence John Giannandrea have also met with E.U. officials in recent weeks ahead of the release of the AI proposals.

Separately, Zuckerberg published an op-ed in the FT on Sunday calling for more regulation of big tech. He specifically endorsed two proposals in the U.S.: the Honest Ads Act and the Deter Act, which are aimed at preventing misinformation and foreign interference in elections.

• The FT reports that the EU "immediately rejected" Zuckerberg's vision for regulation, "warning that the social media company will have to assume more responsibility for illegal material on its platforms."

What's next: "Vestager is set on Wednesday to release the first draft of the EU's proposed regulations on artificial intelligence, including facial recognition, and a digital strategy, which could have major implications for tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple."