Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, has publicly admitted for the first time that he plans to sell the financial data company named after him, which he founded in 1981 and which has made him one of the richest men on earth. He intends to place the proceeds of the sale, likely to amount to billions of pounds, in a charitable trust, similar to that set up by fellow American billionaire Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the world's richest man.