Merrill won't sell stake in Bloomberg LP

[Leth]

Merrill won't sell stake in Bloomberg LP
January 17, 2008 2:11 PM ET

Associated PressAll Associated Press news

NEW YORK (AP) - Despite an aggressive campaign to raise capital, Merrill Lynch isn't planning to sell its 20 percent stake in Bloomberg LP, Merrill's CEO John Thain said Thursday.

Thain told investors about Merrill's plans in a conference call where he discussed the brokerage company's 2007 earnings. Bloomberg LP is the financial markets data company that is majority owned by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Earlier Thursday Merrill reported a massive quarterly loss of $9.91 billion, including nearly $15 billion in write-downs to cover bad mortgage debts.

The announcement came just days after Merrill secured billions of dollars in new investments to shore up its financial standing, mainly from foreign investment funds in Singapore, Korea, and Kuwait.

Even if Merrill did want to sell its stake in Bloomberg, the process would be complicated since the company is privately held and the most likely buyer would be Bloomberg himself.

Bloomberg has said previously he may eventually sell his company, and speculation about its fate has swirled amid indications that Bloomberg could possibly mount an independent bid for president of the United States.

Last September Forbes magazine estimated Bloomberg's personal wealth at $11.5 billion. The magazine put annual sales of Bloomberg LP at about $4.7 billion, and Bloomberg's stake in the company at 68 percent, with the rest held by Merrill and private investors.