Throughout the past several months, prominent names have been thrown into the conversation about a potential 2016 presidential run. People like Vice President Joe Biden and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, once viable candidates in past election cycles, have expressed no desire to seek the highest executive office in 2016. Recently, however, another name has been thrown into the mix, former New York City Mayor and multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

According to a Wall Street Journal article published last week, Bloomberg, 73, has been contemplating a presidential candidacy for quite some time now and has even put together focus groups and consulted research firms to determine his electability in a general election as a third party candidate.

Bloomberg is the founder of Bloomberg LP, a privately held, global financial media company based out of New York City, and a three term mayor of New York City elected in 2001. While his name may be more well known throughout New York, the financial industries and much of the northeastern United States, Bloomberg lacks a national name recognition similar to other presidential hopefuls like Ohio Governor John Kasich or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Since leaving the mayoral office in 2013, Bloomberg has continued to serve as CEO to Bloomberg LP and has continued to remain in the political spotlight by attending global conferences, most recently the environmental COP 21 in France last month.

While the decision to throw his name into the race as an independent has not been finalized, it is widely speculated that Bloomberg sees himself as an alternative to Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders. In many ways, the independent mindset of Bloomberg embodies aspects of both parties and their most vocal leaders. With his business backgroundon Wall Street and progressive approaches to social issues like gun control legislation, Bloomberg seems to be going after the middle, moderate vote, should he make the decision to run. Whether or not his decision to run and its impact on the two parties, is still up for debate. Some argue that he will draw votes away from Republicans in the general election, others away from Democrats.