Bloomberg spends about $7 million per day on his campaign, latest filing shows
In the minute it will take you to read this story, billionaire media mogul Mike Bloomberg's campaign will have spent about $5,000, if not more, based on the latest filing with the Federal Election Commission covering his campaign's spending in January.
The filing showed that Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, spent about $464 million in December and January on his late-arriving presidential campaign. In January alone, the campaign spent more than $220 million — which works out to just north of $7 million per day, about $300,000 per hour, roughly $5,000 per minute and approximately $82 per second.
The campaign had $55 million in cash on hand at the end of January, according to the filing. That cash merely reflects the campaign account's balance on the last day of the period, not the remaining budget for the campaign, a campaign aide said, adding that Bloomberg has not put a firm number on the total he will spend.
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
Bloomberg is bypassing the first four voting states and instead is looking to gain delegates starting on Super Tuesday on March 3. He surged in national and statewide polls in recent weeks before his first debate appearance Wednesday.
"Our campaign has built a nationwide organization that is engaging voters daily about Mike's record of taking on tough fights and winning," campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said. "With over 2,400 staff across 43 states today, Mike is the only candidate with the record and resources to build the national infrastructure Democrats need to beat Donald Trump."
The latest filing showed what the campaign had spent through the end of January — a total that included more than $250 million in television advertising and $50 million more in digital ads. The campaign has spent more than $25 million to date on Hawkfish, its in-house ad-tech startup. As a campaign aide told NBC News, Bloomberg founded the startup to counter what he saw as Republicans' big advantage in the digital landscape.
In addition, Bloomberg spent nearly $8 million to pay his campaign staff in January.
Bloomberg's spending dwarfs any comparable amount spent over such a short span during a presidential primary season.
The filing comes after Bloomberg was eviscerated on Wednesday's debate stage in Las Vegas, particularly by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who stood to his left and hammered him over his past remarks about women, nondisclosure agreements and his handling of stop-and-frisk in New York City.
"I'd like to talk about who we're running against, a billionaire who calls women 'fat broads' and 'horse-faced lesbians,'" Warren said. "And, no, I'm not talking about Donald Trump — I'm talking about Mayor Bloomberg."
Sheekey said after the debate that Bloomberg took "just 45 minutes in his first debate in 10 years to get his legs on the stage," pointing to his candidate's performance in the debate's second hour, in which he compared Sen. Bernie Sanders' policy agenda to "communism," which Sanders, I-Vt., called a "cheap shot."
"He was just warming up tonight," Sheekey added.
