Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tells Financial Times He's Considering White House Run

If he ran, the 73-year-old Bloomberg would be the second-oldest candidate in the presidential field

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has confirmed that he is thinking about running for president as an independent candidate in 2016.

In a story published Monday in the Financial Times, Bloomberg said for the first time that he was considering a White House bid and that he was "looking at all the options" for the upcoming election.

“I’m listening to what candidates are saying and what the primary voters appear to be doing,” he told Financial Times.

The New York Times had reported last month that the billionaire former mayor was telling advisors to work on plans for an independent campaign with a March deadline.

NBC News later confirmed the mayor's plan, noting that Bloomberg would be most likely to run if either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz were nominated as the Republican candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders received the nod from Democrats.

Bloomberg told the Financial Times he would need to start the process of getting his name on ballots by the beginning of March. 

If he ran, the 73-year-old Bloomberg would be the second-oldest candidate in the field; Sanders is 74. If either won, they would eclipse Ronald Reagan as the oldest candidate to win the office. 

Rumors of Bloomberg's presidential aspirations have been swirling since 2007 when the then-NYC mayor left the Republican party and registered as an Independent.

The billionaire and former CEO of his financial services company was a life-long Democrat before switching to the GOP for his first mayoral run. 

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