This article is reproduced from the WeChat public account “China-Europe Business Review” (ID: ceibs-cbr) , author: Wang Zongbai, editor: Wang Zongbai.
At the end of 2019, 77-year-old Michael Bloomberg announced his candidacy for the US presidential election. The self-made rich man with a net worth of more than $ 50 billion said in a statement on Twitter: “I run for president to defeat Donald · Trump, rebuilding the United States. “Bloomberg, who was several years older than Trump, was clearly not in the plan of his life to punch Trump. It was also confusing whether he could pass the Democratic primary election. However, several of the party’s main competitors are also in their seventies.
After Bloomberg announced his candidacy, his founder, Bloomberg News, immediately announced that the media group will stop publishing unsigned social review articles, and will neither investigate Bloomberg nor its Democratic rival. Bloomberg had previously said that if he won the presidential election, he would either sell Bloomberg Limited Partnership or put it in a confidential trust. Some analysts believe that Microsoft may buy Bloomberg for $ 70 billion.
Bloomberg believes in this sentence-“80% of the time in life is just to let yourself be present.” Now, Bloomberg’s election to the US president is only once “present in time “Similar to his election as mayor of New York after the events of September 11, 2001. The philosopher Wittgenstein once said: “The world is everything that happens and the sum of facts.” If you understand the world as a combination of events, you will find the key to understanding Bloomberg.
Bloomberg Group, founded by Bloomberg, is a large financial data provider, trading platform, news media, and social network in the industry. The company’s “Bloomberg Terminal” is used by 325,000 financial services practitioners who become members to pay a one-time $ 24,000. “Most of our information is behind the most expensive ‘paywall’ in the media world. Bloomberg The terminal’s annual subscription costs about $ 22,000, which is equivalent to $ 88 per weekday, “Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg described Bloomberg’s cash cow like this, “Some people say that we are like Google in the financial market. To some extent, this analogy is correct. Like Google, Bloomberg collects, classifies, and stores a lot of information. They can be retrieved instantly, which is something people rely on every day. We use tens of thousands of manpower and advanced technology to ensure that the information and data we provide are 100% accurate. When our customers are on the Bloomberg terminal When searching, they knew they would not receive any fake news or data, and they would not tolerate this. “
01 The originator of the data platform
Today, digital change is becoming a movement that is sweeping the global business world. In fact, this is exactly what Bloomberg did 40 years ago. The primary version of digital transformation is called “automation”, and the advanced version is the data platform and “customer intelligence” referred to today. Everything in the physical world today has a “digital identity”, and decades ago, stocks, government bonds, and futures data were the first to be liberated from paper and manual delivery. In this matter, Michael Bu Lumberg is a pioneer.
Between the early 1970s and the dismissal of his former employer, Solomon Brothers, in 1981, Bloomberg led the computer division of the securities company and established an information processing system, which we generally understand as “automation”, data access With the analysis tools, the information asymmetry within the company has been broken, and the information asymmetry between the company and customers has also begun to be broken. Despite the back-and-forth attacks of various departments, the internal dedicated system built by the Bloomberg team enables Solomon Brothers to maintain 10 years of competitive advantage.
On the left is Bloomberg, the most diligent employee in Solomon
In 1981, Bloomberg, a general partner, was swept out of the company by Solomon Brothers and received $ 10 million in cash compensation. This became the start-up fund of the later Bloomberg Group. After spending $ 4 million, Bloomberg successfully developed the first-generation terminal and won the contract of Merrill Lynch.
This came after unemployed Bloomberg realized a business opportunity, saying, “I envision a business that searches comprehensively for securities data, so that people can choose what they think is useful, and provide computer software for those People who are not mathematicians can analyze this information. “
Some large underwriters have established internal systems, but these systems are only used by PhDs. “Every large securities company spends huge sums of money to independently collect information. Worse, they rely on abacus and A slide rule, or a modern, similar tool, such as a handheld calculator, to process this information … If most companies use my data and analysis, I will be able to create an industry standard. I also have an advantage. I am not a broker or a dealer, and I will not be inclined to either party. This will make my products have the independence that those securities companies’ internal systems cannot reach, and more importantly, no one was doing this at the time. “Bron Berg said. Looking back today, Bloomberg has established a platform.
It’s hard to start a business, Bloomberg recalled: “In the 1980s, once in our little sweatshop, everyone forgot to get off work, and then everyone walked to the theater to watch a movie. , Relax a bit. “
Merrill Lynch was the first customer of Bloomberg. For a while, Merrill Lynch enjoyed this service exclusively. Merrill Lynch later became the world’s largest securities economy company and dealer, which is not unrelated. Because of holding a 30% stake in Bloomberg, Merrill ’s then CEO was finally convinced by Bloomberg, agreeing that Bloomberg would open the system to more than a dozen of its “enemies”, and those opponents soon Outdated in the competition, and later, the plump Bloomberg redeemed the 30% equity held by Merrill Lynch at a high price to avoid professional ethics flaws.
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Bloomberg and his financial services product “Bloomberg Terminal”
02 The obsession with “present”
Accuracy and timely availability of funds-related information are critical to the success of financial practitioners. Making the data “present” in time also made Bloomberg’s business empire. The so-called “presence” means appearing in time.
People who read history books in the past often expressed their feelings that “there is no hero, so they became famous”, rogues are rogue, and even illiteracy has become a “net celebrity” in history during the drastic changes in society, especially when the dynasty changed. This feeling is not quite correct. As the so-called “human destiny depends on self-struggle, but historical progress must also be considered”, the most important relationship between personal destiny and historical progress is “present”. In the phrase “The world is everything that happened,” Ivertgenstein said, individuals and events cannot be separated.
Compared with the big men who seem to be involved in the historical process, Bloomberg has a clearer understanding of the scene. While studying for an MBA at Harvard Business School, he spent two consecutive semesters of summer vacations working at a small real estate company in Cambridge, near Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his memory, “Every day those new renters are getting up very early, grabbing the newspaper in the hotel, seeing the real estate version, calling and making an appointment with the ‘next free agent’. , And then go back to bed. They will go out to see the house later that day. ”
Bloomberg goes to work at 6:30 every morning. He said, “At 7:30 or 8:00, all potential renters who come to Cambridge have called our company and made an appointment. After the viewing time, I was the only one who was willing to answer the phone so early, and the full-time staff who came to work at 9:30 were sitting there all day wondering-one by one came into the office Find Mr. Bloomberg. ”
After joining Solomon Brothers, Bloomberg came to the office at 7 o’clock every morning. “I am earlier than anyone except the founder Billy Solomon. If he wants to borrow a fire or talk about sports During the game, I was the only person in the trading room to talk to. When I was 26 years old, I became his ‘buddy’.With the exception of John Gutfreund, I get off work every day later than everyone else. When he needs someone to call the most important customers during non-working hours, or listen to him complaining to those who have come home from work, only me is present, he is the second person in the company, and I can take his car home … It’s not a chore to keep myself on call-I like what I do. “
Bloomberg found that “Life follows this pattern: Every day you encounter tiny unexpected opportunities. Sometimes seizing an opportunity can get you one step up, but most opportunities, if any, If it’s worth, it can only take you a small step forward. To succeed, you have to come step by step. ”
Screenshot of Bloomberg Campaign Site
He has a very strong resistance to the plan, “Don’t talk about the five-year plan or the Great Leap Forward. This approach may not work for entrepreneurs. Master planners will tell you to follow like a slave. Those specific, step-by-step strategies … but this is not the case in my world, predicting the future is impossible. You work hard because you can accumulate more opportunities, but the results cannot be guaranteed, which depends largely on What kind of card happens to be in my hand, I always think that you should play as many hands as possible, be as smart as possible, and make full use of all available resources. ”
Bloomberg claims to work 12 hours a day and 6 days a week at Solomon Brothers, but this has not broken the balance between work and life. He has never been too stressed or over-invested because of work. Work delays evening or weekend entertainment, He said: “I date a lot of girls and I go skiing, running and partying more than most people. I just make sure I invest 12 hours Work hard and have fun 12 hours. The harder you work, the more you can have a richer life.
Kazuo Inamori has also emphasized that his company never makes a five-year plan, and he values everyone in the organization to make the most of every day. At the same time, at work,When wishing, instead of thinking about changing jobs, change your attitude towards work. Inamori and husband see work as a practice, while Bloomberg’s 996 is to play a few more hands to ensure that they are present when the opportunity comes.
Both attitudes ensure some kind of “presence.” Bloomberg even thought that if he had not been fired at the age of 39, he would have stayed with the Solomon Brothers, and there would be no Bloomberg.
In his memories, Bloomberg talked a bit sarcastically about a habit of thinking. He said, “When filling out a college application form, there is a column ‘What are you going to do in the next 10 years’?” In order to make up so many meaningless words, I racked my brains. “
His attitude to any project is to “born” the less perfect product first, and then continue to optimize, instead of designing it with perfectionism like competitors, it is easy to fall into the plan.
03 The field should be as “transparent” as possible
In 1966, when Bloomberg’s MBA was about to graduate, he didn’t know what to do in the future. He called job applications for Goldman Sachs and Solomon Brothers on the advice of his classmates. During the interview, Bloomberg felt that at that time, Goldman Sachs Wall Street legend Gustav Levi, a managing partner, is friendly but hard to reach; Bloomberg also found that Billy Solomon, the managing partner of Solomon Brothers, was more open and had no conversation with Bloomberg during the interview Not to mention, kind like a cousin far away.
Both companies extended an olive branch to Bloomberg. The former gave an annual salary of $ 14,000, while the latter was a small company at the time. The annual salary was $ 9,000 and a loan of $ 2500 was provided. Longberg chose the latter and became a securities salesman. Bloomberg recalled that at the time the salesperson’s social status was very low, and his Harvard classmates could not understand that he would do such a job.
What attracts Bloomberg to the Solomon Brothers is the working atmosphere, that is, the flow of information may be relatively smooth. Later, as Bloomberg’s promotion, he also encountered a series of office political issues.
After many years, the Bloomberg team established an information processing system at Solomon Brothers. It was nothing more than trying to solve the problem of internal information being “blocked.” Bloomberg was later forced to “start a business.” On a larger level, it makes information more transparent to all stakeholders, and thus gains huge wealth.
Bloomberg said he was the emperor of Bloomberg and always wanted to be reminded when he was undressed. In the placeWhen the performance of the Rohm Brothers declined, he suggested that then managing partner John Gutfreund set up a post of chief of staff to let him be the truth-telling child, but this proposal was not accepted.
In Bloomberg ’s view, the work environment affects employees ’work habits more than management orders, so partitions are not allowed in Bloomberg ’s office, he said: Employees must develop the ability to concentrate and not be affected by countless disturbances, but the biggest benefit is that when they focus on other things, they can also absorb the information around them. Openness also allows them to always face their colleagues, preventing them from having colleagues Make their childish ideas difficult. Just like the truth of the market, transparency brings fairness. “
Bloomberg’s office space
Office space often causes some problems for Bloomberg. Each time I rent an office, it turns out to be too small and not enough. “The congestion of the office shows that I lack the ability to plan for the company’s growth, but this is also A safety valve, the limited space limits the number of people we can hire and keeps our expenses under control. “This also proves in a sense that Bloomberg is less planned for the future.
04 Fair or Unfair
Bloomberg once said that if a person works as hard as a competitor, his win rate will always be 50%, and if he works harder than the competitor, he will have a better win rate. It always brings greater success, and in turn you will have more fun, and then you will be willing to pay more because you have been rewarded, and so on. ” In his view, unfair competition can win, and “unfairness” comes from hard work.
Interestingly, during Bloomberg’s more than a decade as mayor of New York, he has promoted a lot of good governance, but one policy is controversial. forTo solve the problem of the low proportion of Latino and African-American students in high-quality public schools, he proposed a plan to significantly increase the weight of standard test scores in the admission process of so-called good schools. This plan was completely contrary to expectations, and these schools flooded with children from middle-class white and Asian families.
Bloomberg from a Jewish middle-aged family is an instinctive supporter of the “selection system,” which means that “only the most test-oriented and completely performance-centered evaluation standards are the most fair for ordinary people.” When he got the acceptance letter from Harvard Business School, he was imagining how excited his father would be if he was alive.
Ma Yun visited Bloomberg New York headquarters to exchange environmental protection and education with Bloomberg
In fact, this is also a continuation of a system when Bloomberg led Bloomberg. He believes that “the company’s main assets are not technology, databases, unique communication systems, not even customers, but employees”, Therefore, in contrast to “most companies never optimize their team without compelling”, Bloomberg is always “optimizing” personnel, which may also be understood as internal cleaning.
05 Learn to authorize and dislike buying
For an entrepreneur who takes 996 as fun, letting go of management is not an easy task. There are also many doubts about buying other companies’ products, services, and even acquiring other companies. In addition to buying a radio station in New York and entering the radio and television industry, Bloomberg’s “relevant diversification” is all DIY, just to make this financial platform more self-sufficient.
Bloomberg admits: “ Practice must let go and let go, it’s a gradual process for me, but it’s not always enjoyable. I like to do things by myself and get Dirty our hands. If we want to continue to grow and grow instead of relying on me alone, I must hand over power. This does not mean that I am happy about it, but as it grows strongerLarge, I increasingly recognize the importance of commissioning, and anyone who tries to micro-manage large institutions will eventually fail. Usually, when we hand over a project to others, I always remember that the standards of others are not the same as Bloomberg’s pioneering culture. I would rather do it by ourselves. “
Bloomberg has a high-risk interest in flying airplanes, and has experienced two engine failures and escaped. At Solomon Brothers, Dick Rosenthal, a partner who complained to Bloomberg and forced him to lose his job, died at the event.
Facing the situation beyond the plan caused by this activity, he came to the conclusion: “Don’t panic, do what you usually do during training, and do it right, no more, no less.” The reason why I like to fly is because when I like to fly, the state where words and deeds are consistent, “you must do it, not just talk about it.” Can’t think too much about what will happen next.
Bloomberg accepts an interview with “60 Minutes” in a helicopter
Bloomberg also hinted that good results are just “do-it-yourself” affiliations. The former Wall Street gold trader said: “Wall Street bodes great fortune, although in fact I rarely hear anyone Really made a fortune there. From John Rockefeller to Sam Walton, Bill Gates, huge financial achievements came from starting a business in the real world to produce specific products, provide jobs, create value and help people. “