Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is shelving plans for an organization that would have channeled funds toward the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign, electing instead to donate funds to the Democratic National Committee, NBC reported on Friday.
“While we considered creating our own independent entity to support the nominee and hold the President accountable, this race is too important to have many competing groups with good intentions but that are not coordinated and united in strategy and execution,” the Bloomberg campaign told NBC.
Bloomberg will soon transfer $18 million to the DNC while laying off for his originally planned organization. The group was made up of former campaign staff.
“With this transfer from the Bloomberg campaign, Mayor Bloomberg and his team are making good on their commitment to beating Donald Trump,” said DNC chairman Tom Perez in a statement. “This will help us invest in more organizers across the country to elect the next president and help Democrats win up and down the ballot.”
Bloomberg spent an unprecedented $500 million of his own fortune on his presidential campaign, but only began competing in the Super Tuesday primaries. The former mayor ultimately failed to win a significant number of delegates and dropped out of the race almost immediately, endorsing former vice president Joe Biden.
Bloomberg had pledged in January to contribute vast funding for whoever became the Democratic nominee. While the Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) campaign had made clear it did not want funds from Bloomberg, Biden has since pulled far ahead of Sanders in the delegate count and is the favorite to win the Democratic primary.