Wall Street is walking out on Jeb Bush - here's what would send it running
From July 2015 to the end of the year, the PAC added about $15 million to its near-$120 million war chest.
That paled in comparison to the more-than $100 million raised in the first half of 2015. And $10 million of the second half of the year's haul came from a single donor, former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg.
Over at Goldman Sachs, Jeb Bush's name has become something of a "company joke," according to Bloomberg.
Incidentally, the way Wall Street sees it, Bloomberg would be the final nail in Bush's coffin.
Bloomberg, the man and former mayor of New York City, not the company, of course.
One of us
After The New York Times reported that billionaire Michael Bloomberg was seriously considering a run for the presidency and would make a decision on the matter sometime in March, Wall Street collectively rejoiced.
"Mike is Wall Street," said one managing director at a New York based hedge fund. "Plus, we need fresh blood."
Indeed, almost 70% of hedge fund professionals polled by the online investing network SumZero said they would support a Bloomberg run last month.
This isn't a new idea. Bankers at Bank of America have been hopefully gossiping about it since last summer.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said he would "do anything in his power" to get Bloomberg elected back in October when the word was there was no way Bloomberg would run.
And if he is, Wall Street will be waiting. Bush donors know it too.
We can keep using Goldman as an example to illustrate why. Goldman employees gave more money to Bush and aligned groups than any other candidate by far in the first half of the year, totaling $700,000, according to Bloomberg News. In the second half, Goldman gave Bush and allied groups about $47,000.
Obviously, nothing compared to what they gave their first love.
Single and looking
But that could change if Bloomberg enters the race. He's the kind of guy they can really get into - business savvy, liberal on social issues, outside of the establishment, rich, and (perhaps) famous enough to enter the race late.
It is that latter point that Wall Street seems stuck on here.
"Look at Jeb. Money has not helped him," said one executive at a New York hedge fund.
"I really think this race is about exposure, Facebook, Instagram - that is where the race is run. It's what old-school guerrilla marketing used to be."
Point is: If a candidate is going to catch up at this point in the game, he or she is going to have to have some kind of presence in people's heads and homes, through the Internet. Bloomberg has that, to some extent.
If Bloomberg doesn't come to the rescue, and current GOP front-runner Donald Trump winning the Republican nomination, the Wall Streeters we talked to said Republicans in their industry would support Trump over the Democratic nominee - though they would do so grudgingly.