Are you better off than you were a year ago? For Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the answer is almost certainly yes.
The mayor's personal fortune has grown again, this time to a staggering $25 billion, a 28 percent increase in a year, according to the calculations of Forbes magazine. That placed him 10th on its annual list of the nation's richest people, released on Wednesday.
Mr. Bloomberg, 70, edged out Jeffrey Bezos, the founder of Amazon, for the final Top 10 slot. (Mr. Bezos had a mere $23.2 billion.) But the mayor remained behind S. Robson Walton, the chairman of Wal-Mart, who ranked No. 9, with $26.1 billion. Bill Gates, with a net worth 2.6 times that of Mr. Bloomberg's, claimed the top spot.
A precise calculation of Mr. Bloomberg's wealth is nearly impossible: his billions stem from a majority stake in his media and information firm, Bloomberg L.P., which remains a priva te concern and can be stingy about revealing its finances.
Forbes estimated the growth of the mayor's fortune based on a rise in revenue at Bloomberg L.P., where sales reached $7.6 billion last year, and higher valuations for the company's publicly traded competitors, including McGraw-Hill and Thomson Reuters.
The mayor, whose charitable foundation distributes hundreds of millions of dollars a year, may be feeling flush. In May it was revealed that he had bought an 11th home, a 33-acre estate in Westchester County, in 2011, adding to a real estate portfolio that includes trophy properties in Bermuda; London; Vail, Colo.; and other fashionable locales.
Bloomberg L.P. recently unveiled its own wealth ranking system, producing a list of billionaires around the world that purports to update daily based on market fluctuations. The $25 billion estimate of Mr. Bloomberg's wealth would place him at No. 15 on that list â€" but, per company policy, his net worth is n ot included.
Would Mr. Bloomberg's office like to comment?
“Nope,†replied Marc La Vorgna, his press secretary.
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