Media tycoon concerned by growing possibility of a Trump-Sanders race

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking early steps toward launching an independent campaign for president, seeing a potential path to the White House amid the rise of billionaire Donald Trump and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Bloomberg has retained advisers and plans to conduct a poll after the Feb 9 New Hampshire primary to assess the state of the race and judge whether there is an opening for him to mount an independent campaign, according to three people familiar with his thinking. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about his plans, which were first reported Saturday by The New York Times.