Bloomberg INC Fixes ‘Glitch’ Sending Users to Candidate Site

The finance and media group Bloomberg said Thursday it fixed what it termed a glitch in its market information terminals that directed users to presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s campaign website by typing in the letters “MIKE.”

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The company, which operates a major network for financial market data as well as a news organization, said it took the action after an article in the Financial Times pointing out the link to the company owner.

“We’ve updated that function to go to (Michael Bloomberg’s) bio page just like anyone else,” said Bloomberg LP spokesman Ty Trippet in a tweet to an FT journalist.

Data service owned by #Bloomberg caught promoting his campaign page, blames ‘oversight’#BloombergTerminal https://t.co/KN1Ik1sUXE pic.twitter.com/S1RCb2aM6v

— RT (@RT_com) December 5, 2019

“Thanks for pointing out what was clearly an oversight when the site became a campaign site.”

The FT article included screenshots of the terminals that had been directed to the campaign site.

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Before he launched his presidential run, the feature was used to direct users to Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropy website, which was later repurposed as a campaign page, according to the company.

Among the world’s richest individuals, Bloomberg has pledged to spend freely from his estimated $54 billion fortune to defeat Donald Trump, calling him “an existential threat to our country and our values.”

The New York billionaire, who faces a delicate task in keeping his business and campaign operations separate, came under fire recently after the media arm said it would not investigate him or any of his rivals for the Democratic nomination.

President Donald Trump’s campaign responded by barring Bloomberg journalists from the Republican’s campaign events, arguing that the decision showed “bias.”

Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait denied any charges of bias and said: “We have covered Donald Trump fairly and in an unbiased way since he became a candidate in 2015 and will continue to do so despite the restrictions imposed by the Trump campaign.”