Rupak Ghose is the chief operating officer of Galytix, former head of corporate strategy at ICAP/NEX and a former financials research analyst at Credit Suisse.Industry watchers have been predicting the death of the Bloomberg terminal ever since the financial crisis. New technologies. New competitors. Old competitors reinventing themselves. But Bloomberg lives on. It thrives. Why?
Perhaps it is just a bull market, where Bloomberg users are paid astronomical salaries by their employers. Who cares about another 9 per cent increase in Bloomberg fees to keep a trader happy, when they can cost a firm a hundred times or more in salary and benefits.
There are five main reasons why Bloomberg defies gravity: knowing their client preferences; the cost of substitution; a superior brand and network effects; a disciplined pricing strategy; and a long-term vision around product expansion.