Founder of Bloomberg LP, Bloomberg LP
Michael Bloomberg's Address at the World Bank-1
This is Mike Bloomberg's address at the World Bank on 'Building Better Cities'
About Michael Bloomberg
At the 25th anniversary of the Tribeca Festival, Michael Bloomberg reflected on the festival's role in revitalizing Lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks. He stated that the "rebirth and revitalization of Lower Manhattan will be remembered as one of the greatest comeback stories in American history" and that "the arts can and must play a pivotal role in strengthening our city's spirit, our economy and our quality of life." At Bloomberg CityLab 2026 in Madrid, Bloomberg announced an additional $350 million commitment from Bloomberg Philanthropies to the Global Road Safety Initiative, with a goal of saving one million lives by 2030. He said that "the more national governments retreat from the world stage, the more important mayors become" and emphasized that "one city's success can spread to other cities and improve lives there, too." Bloomberg also discussed the launch of a Mayors AI Forum supported by the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University and an expansion of global leadership programs in partnership with the London School of Economics and the Hertie School.
Transcript (3 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Graham0:04
Well, good morning. It's great to see so many here; it's not unexpected. We've got a wonderful, wonderful guest with us today. And good afternoon to you, Bob. Pleased to see that you got through the London traffic okay. Bob's joining us from London, where he's been having discussions on sustainable development with, among others, the Prince of Wales, the chancellor, and the minister for International Development. But we're greatly privileged, and I do mean greatly privileged today, to have the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, join us on Urban Sector Day. Mr. Mayor, you have an audience which contains many Urban Sector Specialists from around the world; their numbers are a testimony to the intense interest among them in your work in New York City, which is truly pathbreaking, and to your enormous influence as a leader. Thank you for finding the time to be with us. We know you have a hectic schedule. It truly is a great honor to have you here, and there's huge interest in your presentation. Bob would love to have been here in person but is standing by in London, and he will make the words of introduction. So, over to you, Bob.
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Bob1:28
Well, thank you very much, Graham. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to welcome Mayor Bloomberg. I had the pleasure of getting to know the mayor a little bit when I worked in New York City. He's an impressive and versatile leader with a strategic sense that focuses on the most important elements of a topic, the executive sense of going after the key facts, and one of the nicest qualities—a sheer enjoyment of the politics of governing—as well as a good sense of humor. All of these, in my experience, have been combined with a very strong commitment to public service. He cares a great deal about his community and wants to make it a better place for the citizens of New York. Now, the World Bank Group's experience with Mayor Bloomberg runs considerably deeper than my own, as I learned from our Treasurer's Office that they started buying Bloomberg terminals in 1986, very early in the development of what became an incredibly successful business venture. This innovation contributed tremendously to market efficiency, breaking the near monopoly that dealers had on information and speedy analytics, cutting spreads and new issue transaction costs to extraordinary effect. The mayor has brought that same spirit of innovation and entrepreneurialism to his work in New York City, showing that ideas can move in multiple directions among countries. He has a tremendous international spirit, exemplified by his Opportunity New York City program, a conditional cash transfer project that drew from experiences of Brazil and Mexico's successful antipoverty programs. The World Bank now supports 16 such programs in 12 countries, and our staff offered advice as the New York City program was developed. This is just one area where Mayor Bloomberg has shown exceptional leadership—he's cut crime, raised school standards, created jobs, boosted affordable housing, expanded parks, and is leading the world in integrating urban challenges with global climate change. We're fortunate he will give his keynote speech on Urban Sector Day. With over half the world's population in cities, 90% of urban growth in developing countries, and 1 billion people living in urban slums, we couldn't have a better speaker. I apologize for not being there personally, but it's an honor to welcome Mayor Bloomberg to the World Bank. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
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Michael Bloomberg6:11
Bob, thank you for those kind words from London. I hope the traffic there isn't too bad; you were almost too late to introduce me. You should tell them they should put a congestion pricing charge in; maybe that would help. And in terms of the World Bank having Bloomberg terminals, my daughters say thank you. Now, my connections with the World Bank are not just through selling Bloomberg terminals. I actually know not only Bob but both of his two predecessors. In the interest of full disclosure, my girlfriend works for Jim Wolfensohn. He should be pleased. Jim and I were partners together at Solomon Brothers, and we were both pushed out at exactly the same time. Our careers did okay afterwards, thank you, so there's nothing wrong with that. Paul Wolfowitz was a dean at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins, where I was chairman of the board, so you can say that he used to work for me, and I'm guessing that a few of you probably think that he should have stayed there. But I thought that would have gotten a little bit better laugh than that, actually. And Bob was a partner in an investment banking firm that offered me my first job when I got out of business school, and I turned them down, thank goodness. So, anyways, it's amazing after all of that that you still invited me to speak. Nevertheless, seriously, I am deeply honored by this invitation to address the World Bank Group's Urban Sector. The work you do in so many rapidly growing cities really does put you at the center of stage of the world's most important drama, and you should be proud, really, of the differences that you're making to so many in our societies that need help. You truly are at the center of a changing world. This year, for the first time in human history, city dwellers will begin to make up the majority of the Earth's population, and this global urbanization represents a seismic shift in world affairs, happening at a breathtaking pace.