Bloomberg not to mount a third-party White House bid

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today that he will not run for president as an independent, in a move that would have roiled this year's already extraordinarily unpredictable presidential campaign.

The billionaire, who has spent months mulling an independent campaign, made his decision official through an editorial posted by the Bloomberg View.

"There is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz," Bloomberg wrote. "That is not a risk I can take in good conscience."

Bloomberg was blistering in his critique of Trump, saying the real-estate mogul has run "the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people's prejudices and fears."

He was similarly critical of Cruz, saying the Texas senator's "pandering on immigration may lack Trump's rhetorical excess, but it is no less extreme."

Bloomberg made only an oblique reference Democrats Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders and did not endorse a candidate.

The former three-term mayor – who had indicated he'd have spent $1 billion of his own money on the run – had set a mid-March deadline for his team of advisers to assess the feasibility of mounting a run, believing that waiting longer would imperil his ability to complete the petition process needed to get on the ballots in all 50 states.