Michael Bloomberg, a former mayor of New York and one of the world’s richest men, is spending more than $US30 million this week alone to launch his tilt at becoming president of the United States.
The spend, outlined by several advertising analytics companies including Kantar and Medium Buying, is said to be the biggest single political advertising outlay for a one week campaign, mostly television.
His campaign has also put down more than $7 million for next week. He has indicated he will spend more than $US100 million of his own money on the campiagn.
Spending on political ads for the 2020 election is expected to hit $US6 billion.
Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party took eight months to spent more than $30 million on ads during the federal election in Australia this year.
In the US, 77-year-old Michael Bloomberg, the founder of the Bloomberg financial markets terminal, announced his bid as a Democratic presidential candidate overnight.
"I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America," he says.
"We cannot afford four more years of president Trump’s reckless and unethical actions. He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage."
The announcement drew criticism from other Democratic Party presidential hopefuls.
Senator Bernie Sanders says he is “disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any other billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy our elections”.
The Wall Street Journal quotes a Bloomberg spokesman: “Mike is prepared to spend what it takes to defeat Donald Trump.”
Forbes estimates Bloomberg's fortune at $US53 billion compared to Trump's $US3.1 billion.
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