REPORT: Michael Bloomberg Talks About Running for President

Look out, Donald Trump. You're not the only deep-pocketed New Yorker thinking you can do better than the other candidates for president.

Michael Bloomberg told a reporter in London what CNN notes he has been saying privately for weeks: that he is thinking about jumping into the race for the White House.

According to CNN, Financial Times reporter Oliver Ralph was nearing the end of an interview about global finance when he asked the former mayor of New York City if he was considering running for president of the United States. His answer was that he was "looking at all the options" before him.

"I'm listening to what candidates are saying and what the primary voters appear to be doing," Bloomberg told the FT reporter.

The media mogul then showed how serious he was by saying he needed his name added to ballots in primary states by early March to be able to compete. And he unleashed what CNN called his "most damning indictment to date" of those already running for president:

"I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters," Bloomberg told the FT. He said voters deserve "a lot better."

This comes almost a month after The New York Times reported that Bloomberg told advisers to draft a strategy to mount an independent campaign.

According to CNN, Bloomberg would position himself as a moderate big on compromise, with business know-how that can help him govern effectively despite political partisanship and bickering.

"Bloomberg is seen as a pragmatist and fiscal conservative who has taken liberal positions on issues like gun control and the environment," CNN reports. As New York's mayor, he had a mixed record on LGBT rights, although he did come around to supporting marriage equality; read an Advocate profile here.