Yesterday, it was reported that Mayor Michael Bloomberg would buy back 20% of his company, Bloomberg L.P., from Merrill Lynch for $4.5 billion. That figure finally gave the media more of an idea of his wealth. Forbes had estimated Bloomberg's wealth in the neighborhood of $5.2 billion, but now that he'll own closer to 80-90% of Bloomberg L.P, the number is at least ten billion more. The Sun suggests it's "about $20 billion", while the......

The Bancroft family, who owns a controlling interest in publicly traded Dow Jones & Co., Inc., is considering an unsolicited bid from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to purchase The Wall Street Journal. Trading in Dow Jones shares was halted temporarily after their price jumped 57%, or nearly $21 during the day. Murdoch is reportedly offering $60 a share for the company, which would make the total offer worth approximately $5 billion. The New York Times......

Even our beloved fictional characters aren't safe from Forbes Money-Obsessed Lists. Forbes just released their Richest Fictional 15, and while presumed "fictional" Santa tops the list with infinity dollars, two of our city's finest -- SUNY alum Daddy Warbucks ($27.3 billion) and Arthur Bach ($2 Billion) -- come in 2nd and 11th. Other noted billionaires include Scrooge McDuck, who's presently "hiding due to fear of bird flu," the reclusive Willy Wonka who "was hit......

As expected, many people took the opportunity to call the Mayor yesterday, after he bragged how he took calls from constituents at home on his listed-in-the-phonebook number. The NY Times reports that the Mayor's communications director said Bloomberg's townhouse received "more calls than we can count" while the Post was able to fix the uncountable number as "more than 100 calls." A Post reporter tried calling a few times, but only got a busy signal......

Aha: It seems that Cablevision bid for the MTA's West Side railyards is actually New York Region > Executive Says Cablevision Tops Jets' Bid by $40 Million" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/nyregion/25cablevision.html">$40 million more than the Jets' $720 million bid. But the most interesting - and aggressive - thing about the Cablevision bid is that it's for $760 million in cash, whether or not the city allows them to rezone for the development they'd like. Now, that's the "Damn!"......

For only Mayor Bloomberg could a 50% approval rating be great news. The mayor's ratings have improved to give him his highest score in two years, back to levels he was at when he entered office. The Quinnipiac poll shows that Mayor B is at a 50% approval rating (but it's still not near his July 2002 high of 57%), which is attributed to his property rebate, keeping crime down, and the improving NYC economy.......