2020 US election: Likely candidate Bloomberg buys TV ads worth $31 mn

Bloomberg, who ran New York from 2002 to 2013, registered on Thursday with the US Federal Election Commission -- another step towards a run at the White House.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an increasingly likely 2020 presidential candidate, plans to launch a USD 31 million television advertising campaign on Monday, in a move deemed anti-democratic by Bernie Sanders. The billionaire has purchased a total of USD 31 million in advertising inserts, according to the ad tracking firm Advertising Analytics, the largest sum ever spent by a US presidential candidate.

The amount -- an increase on the record USD 25 million spent by Barack Obama at the end of his 2012 campaign -- reflects the financial clout of the 77-year-old former mayor, one of the richest men