Bloomberg Declined Offer of World Bank Top Job

Last winter, former White House chief of staff Bill Daley quietly phoned New York City Michael Bloomberg with a job offer. Then-president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, was stepping down, and Daley wanted to know whether Bloomberg was interested in replacing him, according to Gabriel Sherman of New York magazine.

While Bloomberg’s executive experience, financial literacy, and solid business background made him an obviously strong candidate, he declined the offer. A few months later, in March, President Obama nominated Dartmouth president Jim Yong Kim to serve as the head of the international finance organization.

The mayor, a famously self-driven personality with a long history of leadership experience, was apparently none-too-keen on the prospect of answering to a higher authority: “Bloomberg did not want to have a boss, and he’d already begun to retool his life for his post-mayoralty,” reports the magazine.

Bloomberg is currently making news due to a controversial executive proposal limiting the size of sugary drinks sold in the Big Apple.