Mike Bloomberg made crass sexual remarks about women in the workplace as recently as 2014, according to a former executive
- Business Insider has learned from one former female Bloomberg executive that after he returned to Bloomberg LP from his stint as mayor, Michael Bloomberg regularly made crass sexual jokes and demeaning comments about women in the workplace.
- Up until now, Bloomberg has dismissed his sexist, crude comments as a thing of the past. "It was 30 years ago. Get over it," Diane Taylor, Bloomberg's longtime girlfriend, said in an interview last week on CBS News.
- One former employee, who worked for the company in the 1990s, told Business Insider that Mike Bloomberg once directed derogatory remarks - and discriminatory conduct - at a woman that Bloomberg's campaign is now holding up as an example of his support for women in the workplace.
- According to this former Bloomberg employee, in the 1990s, that woman, Maggie Berry, was proposed as a candidate for a promotion into a job that required interacting with clients. According to the source, Bloomberg dismissed the idea based on Berry's physical appearance, saying, "I will not have that fat woman representing my company."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren fired shots at former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg during last month's Democratic debates, blasting him over his record of making crude, sexist comments about women.
"At least I didn't have a boss who said, 'Kill it,' the way that Mayor Bloomberg is alleged to have said to one of his pregnant employees," Warren said on the debate stage in South Carolina. "People want a chance to hear from the women who have worked for Mayor Bloomberg."
"I never said that," Bloomberg replied in response.
Earlier in the month, during the Nevada debate, Bloomberg said he'd been accused of nothing worse than bad jokes.
"None of [the women] accused me of doing anything, other than, maybe, they didn't like a joke I told," Bloomberg said.
"It was 30 years ago. Get over it," Diane Taylor, Bloomberg's longtime girlfriend, added in an interview last week on CBS News, when questioned about his company's treatment of women.
While Bloomberg continues to dismiss his inappropriate comments as a thing of the past, however, Business Insider has learned from one former female Bloomberg executive that Bloomberg, after he returned to the company in 2014 from his stint as mayor, regularly made crass sexual jokes and demeaning comments about women in the workplace.
"It's the way he talked, and everyone knows that," this person, who cited a confidentiality agreement in declining to speak on the record, told Business Insider. "As a woman, I didn't push back, and I didn't say 'Don't do that.' Many of us just tolerated it. And I'm really ashamed about that."
A recent Business Insider investigation involving interviews with more than 40 current and former Bloomberg LP employees has found allegations of a toxic, macho workplace culture fueled by fear, in which powerful people screamed at underlings and bullied them with impunity.
"I will not have that fat woman representing my company."
One former employee, who worked for the company in the 1990s, told Business Insider that Mike Bloomberg once directed derogatory remarks - and discriminatory conduct - at a woman that Bloomberg's campaign is now holding up as an example of his support for women in the workplace. In a campaign ad that aired during the South Carolina presidential debate called "Championing Women in the Workplace," a 25-year veteran of Bloomberg LP named Maggie Berry says of Bloomberg, "Mike supports women, he promotes women, he respects women."
According to this former Bloomberg employee, in the 1990s Berry was proposed as a candidate for a promotion into a job that required interacting with clients. According to the source, Bloomberg dismissed the idea based on Berry's physical appearance, saying, "I will not have that fat woman representing my company." He ultimately hired a man for the job, the former Bloomberg employee said.
Reached for comment, Berry defended her boss. "I've been with Bloomberg for 25 years, almost exclusively in client-facing roles," she said. "From my earliest days at the company, it was Mike himself who encouraged me to take a role in sales where you're constantly interacting with clients. Having Mike's backing and support has allowed me, and many other women at Bloomberg, to progress into management positions overseeing a significant part of our business."
A source says Mike Bloomberg gave demeaning nicknames - including "dogface" and "Stopatruckski" - to employees he found unattractive
The same former employee recounted other instances of frat-house behavior that she observed while working in the 1990s in the company's open-plan office, where it was difficult to avoid hearing her neighbors. Bloomberg and other top male colleagues, she said, would call out "SFU" as a code when certain women walked by - to make clear they thought the woman was "short, fat, and ugly," the former employee said. Bloomberg developed nicknames for women he found unattractive, the former employee said, calling one woman "dogface" behind her back and another woman "Stopatruckski" - which rhymed with her last name - in reference to her weight. Once, while describing a female higher-up at the company, Bloomberg remarked, "Don't let the lesbian get you down!"
In a statement, a Bloomberg LP spokesperson said the company "strongly supports a culture that treats all employees with dignity and respect, and enforces that culture through clear policies and practices. Our diversity and inclusion efforts are designed to foster a culture where thousands of people are proud to work every day. It's also why Bloomberg is consistently ranked at the top of surveys about inclusive workplaces, and why we've been rated the top company for career growth opportunities in the US."
Read the full investigation: "More than 40 current and former Bloomberg LP employees reveal the company's abusive 'trading floor' culture, where Mike Bloomberg and his colleagues allegedly called women 'SFUs' for 'short fat and ugly,' and women complained about a senior newsroom leader's unwanted massages for years."
