When Michael Bloomberg announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States at the end of November, it was immediately clear to all observers that the multibillionaire would pay a little for the election campaign. How much it will actually become can already be guessed after a few weeks.
According to a report by the New York Times ("NYT"), Democratic candidate Bloomberg spent $ 18 million on advertising on Facebook and Google last month alone against US President Donald Trump. The "NYT" relies on data from Acronym, an agency specializing in online marketing that works with the Democrats.
The Bloomberg campaign is said to have already spent a further $ 128 million on television advertising, the newspaper reports, citing the independent company Advertising Analytics. According to the company, Bloomberg and his team could spend a total of $ 300-400 million across all media by the early March (Super Tuesday) primary.
As much as Obama did throughout his 2012 election campaign?
The sum not only overshadows his rivals' advertising budgets, it was also spent significantly faster than before. And if the estimate of $ 400 million is true, it would be roughly the same as what Ex-President Barack Obama's campaign spent on advertising throughout the 2012 presidential election.
Money is one of the most important factors for a successful presidential campaign in the United States. Bloomberg captivates with its enormous fortune, which is estimated at more than 50 billion dollars. He is likely to have learned from the defeat of the Democrats in 2016 and the mistakes of the Republicans: During the primaries at the time, they mostly used their money to keep their party opponents down - and long underestimated Donald Trump.
Bloomberg's team now has one enemy in mind in its campaign: the current US President.
Read here how Michael Bloomberg made his fortune.