idea for using computer technology to help investment professionals, is in Bermuda this week visiting his customers. In an exclusive interview, David Fox talked with him about how his company got started and where it's headed.

When Michael Bloomberg found himself on the outside looking in at Salomon Brothers after a corporate takeover, he didn't give up. Instead, he left, taking three of his brightest colleagues with him.

That was in 1981. Today, there are 80,000 computer terminals around the world which bear his name. They are served by more than 3,400 employees, nicknamed "Bloombergers'', who were responsible for drawing in more than $1 billion in revenue and $200 million in profits last year. Assets, according to a recent New Yorker profile, are $2 billion.

Sixteen years ago, when computers were just beginning to revolutionise the way financial markets operated, Mr. Bloomberg had just become the victim of the takeover of Salomon Brothers, where he had been a partner for nine years.

In many ways, Salomon, which has since experienced more than its share of problems, was the loser in the deal.

Barely 40, he cashed in his chips (about $10 million worth of Salomon Brothers) and proceeded to set up his own firm, using an idea he developed while working on Salomon's equities desk.

Did the new controllers of Salomon do him a favour by cutting him loose? "I don't know that I thought of it that way at the time,'' he replies. "But the way it worked out, I guess they did. I've always joked that John Gutfreund (then Salomon's managing partner), who remains a friend of mine, did me two favours. He hired me, and 15 years later, he fired me. And his timing was impeccable in both cases.'' When he left, he took three fellow Salomon colleagues with him.

Now, as The New Yorker Magazine reported in a profile last month: "His name is stamped on 73,000 computer terminals that companies lease (for less than $1,200 a month) to receive Bloomberg -- a treasure of up-to-the-minute and historical financial data.

"His 70 news bureaus produce Bloomberg News, which is carried by more than 800 newspapers around the world. His name is featured on television (Bloomberg Business News), on radio (Bloomberg News Radio), in magazines (Bloomberg Magazine and Bloomberg Personal), on the Internet (the Bloomberg Personal Website -- www.bloomberg.com) and on books (the Bloomberg Press).'' The strength of "the Bloomberg'' is the vast amount of financial data it provides on companies and markets around the world. The Bloomberg machine plots and prints a chart showing the movements of your stock or computes returns on stock you could have owned.

Bloomberg looks at Internet, expansion It can provide a complete analysis of public companies, and provide a lot of information on privately-held firms.

Mr. Bloomberg did what no-one thought was possible. He has competed, and done so successfully, against Reuters and Dow Jones Telerate (now Dow Jones Markets) for the provision of financial information. Still smaller in terms of exposure, he is growing faster than either of them.

Using that base, the company has expanded into a wide variety of news reporting in different mediums and provides a wide range of business support services such as travel reservations. It also provides a "private internet'', in which its is possible to communicate with other Bloomberg clients by e-mail throughout the world.

This week Mr. Bloomberg said: "The Internet is an opportunity for us. By the end of April, we will have converted all of our in-house users and all of our customers who use our portable terminals to come to us through the Net.

"In the past, we had our own dial-in lines. You could call in 1,300 different places around the world. We had to maintain those lines and the cost of the communications back to New York, and modems and heat and power conditioning and those things. Internet takes away the need to do all of that.

"Now, unfortunately, the Internet is not fast enough and reliable enough for our basic customer who uses it during the day. It's OK for people to use it at night and travelling, because dial-up lines are not that reliable no matter what.

"But hopefully, as the Net gets more robust and gets rid of some of its problems, we would convert. I would love to move our entire network over to the Internet, because the customers, opposed to us, would be paying for communications. It's a great opportunity for us if it works.'' The move to the Internet -- and a recent decision to feed Bloomberg information into personal computers -- shows that the company has the flexibility to keep growing, says Frank Reid, a Bloomberg salesman who essentially brought the company to Bermuda, where are now 100 customers and about 200 "boxes''.

"We are exploring all avenues,'' says Mr. Reid. "Those are the business plans.

"But the Bloomberg is a kind of proprietary Internet. You can always be assured of sending a message from Hamilton, Bermuda to Sydney, Australia in a quarter of a second with complete security which you cannot do on the Internet. When the Internet can do that, it will be a viable alternative.'' Mr. Reid, who became the company's 80th employee in 1987, has nothing but praise for Mr. Bloomberg.

"We have had explosive growth across all markets,'' he said. "Michael is a dynamic guy and shows tremendous leadership. He is brilliant and very creative.

"There is great camaraderie in the company which stems from the top and although as the company has grown, you lose some of the sense of familiarity, it is still considered a big family.

"The things that are done are done with the entire company and employees in mind.'' While Mr. Bloomberg and his three ex-Salomon colleague are the only employees who own stock in the company, other Bloomberg employees share in the success of the company with bonuses tied to business performance.

Although many credit him with surrounding himself with the right people, he credits others with helping to develop the comprehensive variety of information and media options.

He told The Royal Gazette : "The trick is to leverage other people, not to try to do it all yourself. That's one of the real problems that entrepreneurs typically have. They are unwilling to delegate, step aside and let the next generation take it to the next level.

"It's tough to do. But if you are going to grow, you have to do it.'' His corporate structure is quite basic. As CEO, he delegates most functions to six to 12 people. But he signs off on the big decisions. He is also the corporate figure-head, the "front man'' for a company which after all bears his name. He knows that being visible is useful for people and business relations.

That in part is why he flew to Bermuda late yesterday to meet informally last night with his roughly 100 Bermuda clients. He believes keeping in touch with customers provides the kind of feedback that can only improve the product.

Any business, he said, can be more successful if the company listens closely to what the customer wants. That's what he was doing last night, as he hosted many of his local customers at a reception at the Bermuda National Gallery.

His take on Bermuda: "It's the nicest Island I've ever been to. It's the only Island I like. The back streets are as clean as the front streets and you feel perfectly safe. The people all have smiles on their face. The wealthy and the less wealthy. Black, white, blue, green -- everybody seems to get along, at least to an outsider.

"I've always dreamed of eventually having a weekend house in Bermuda, once my kids get off to college.'' Back in the US, Mr. Bloomberg, who recently bought back a third of Merrill Lynch's 30 percent stake in the company, finds himself being constantly asked when he plans to take the company public.

It's an idea he is adamantly against.

He said emphatically: "I've just no interest in having a public company. It's hard for people to understand that. They always ask the same question. I can't think of any reason why we should take the company public. But on the other hand, I can think of lots of reasons why we don't want a public company.'' INFORMATION KING -- Michael Bloomberg surrounded by some of his company's equipment.