What will become of Bloomberg LP, one of the most successful and valuable private companies in history, without its eponymous founder as its C.E.O.? Well, as the internal memorandum from Mike Bloomberg made clear, he’s “not going anywhere.” And it’s not the first time that Bloomberg has stepped aside, as he did during his 12 years as New York City’s mayor, when Dan Doctoroff took a turn at the wheel. This is likely just recognition that, at 81, he’s not as young as he used to be, a point that his fellow billionaire Steve Schwarzman made on CNBC the other day when talking about Joe Biden.

As the largest shareholder in Bloomberg, Mike can be taken at his word that he’s not going anywhere, and that despite installing product chief Vlad Kliatchko as C.E.O., he’ll still be the one making all the big decisions, for as long as he wants to make them. But the question remains: What is to be done with Bloomberg LP? It’s a conundrum that bankers on Wall Street have been grappling with for years, especially since Bloomberg seems to have steadfastly resisted the obvious solution of taking the company public through an I.P.O., and then slowly but surely selling down his stake. I suspect the tax implications of that would be difficult for Mike, making that an inelegant solution. More important, though, I suspect Mike does not want Bloomberg to be a publicly traded company. He obviously likes his privacy, doesn’t need the money, doesn’t feel the need to keep score by seeing how wealthy he is on a daily basis, and probably doesn’t want people to see how profitable his company is.