Jim Geraghty offers National Review Online readers a list of things they probably didn’t know about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

1. Bloomberg got his start on the path to corporate titanhood when he was paid $10 million and let go by Salomon Brothers as part of Phibro Corporation’s purchase of the venerable Wall Street firm. …

… 2. In the same book, Bloomberg describes himself as “a member of the ‘never apologize, never explain’ school of management.” But he appears to have softened his stance on apologies since then. Just in the past few months, he has apologized for the stop-and-frisk policy he oversaw as New York City mayor, using disrespectful language about women, using prison workers for telemarketing, and calling Cory Booker “well-spoken.”

3. When Bloomberg started selling terminals with up-to-the-minute financial data, one of the first clients was the Vatican. “When their electricians seemed to take forever to install the wire needed for our terminal,” Bloomberg writes, “a nun in their funds management office told us she’d have the Pope bless our cabling to make the installation process go more quickly. I don’t know if he did, but the next day the installation was completed.” …

… 6. Bloomberg on Bloomberg expresses skepticism that workers can be trusted to work from home: “Tougher, more competitive times are not suited for reduced interaction with fellow workers or more lax supervision. Those arguing that e-mail, chat, and videoconferencing are replacements for gathering around the watercooler must be academics.” …

… 14. In the late 1990s, Bloomberg’s interest in running for office became clear, and his charitable foundation expanded into 79 organizations. “He doesn’t get bought. He’s the one doing the buying,” state assemblyman Richard Brodsky said at the time, summing up an M.O. that Bloomberg has maintained ever since.