Michael R. Bloomberg put more than $200 million of his personal fortune into his presidential campaign by the end of December, with the overwhelming bulk of that sum going to a mammoth advertising campaign on television and online, according to Mr. Bloomberg’s first campaign finance disclosure with the Federal Election Commission.
But Mr. Bloomberg’s wealth financed a huge array of campaign expenditures, many of them unusual or unheard-of for candidates of normal means, including millions of dollars in polling before Mr. Bloomberg even entered the race; $1.5 million for office space; about $700,000 for rental apartments for campaign staff; and nearly as much on travel by private jet.
The figure comes as little surprise to those who have tracked Mr. Bloomberg’s television advertising, and the total price tag for his candidacy has soared far higher in the month since the end of the reporting period. But the filing on Friday is the most detailed description yet of how Mr. Bloomberg has deployed his personal fortune in a quest for the presidency that only started in late November.
Since then, Mr. Bloomberg has climbed into the high single digits in national polls, largely on the strength of an onslaught of campaign commercials with no precedent in Democratic politics.