Bloomberg Takes on World in Tobacco Fight

First, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, conquered his addiction to smoking. Then he carried his crusade to the city, defeating decades of entrenched tradition and howls of nicotine-fuelled criticism to ban cigarettes from its bars, nightclubs and restaurants.

Now, the 64-year-old billionaire is taking on the world, donating $125m (£65.8m) of his money to tackle the problem globally, arguing that it has been ignored for too long by philanthropists.

Mr Bloomberg, whose $5.1bn fortune makes him the world's 112th richest man, said the money would be used to create the Worldwide Stop Smoking Initiative, which would give grants to existing organisations to fund programmes to help smokers quit, help discourage children from starting, and back smoking bans in other cities.

The mayor and media mogul said the cash would be "a social investment".

"There are roughly 5 million people who are killed by tobacco in this world each year, and, unless we take urgent action this century, a billion people will die from smoking," Mr Bloomberg said.

"We know how to save millions of lives, and shame on us if we don't do it."

Mr Bloomberg is one of the world's most generous philanthropists, though his donations attract little media attention.

This year the Chronicle of Philanthropy placed him eighth on its list of America' most generous donors: he gave $144m in 2005 (Bill and Melinda Gates donated $320m).

The American Cancer Society described Mr Bloomberg's donation as unprecedented.