Bloomberg View, the op-ed venture from Michael Bloomberg, got a close examination in the New York Times yesterday, and we might as well get the staggering stat out of the way now: Bloomberg is paying each of its top editors – David Shipley and James P. Rubin – about $500,000 a year.

Okay, deep breaths everyone. All set? Moving on…

The article discusses Bloomberg’s motives for creating the project, and casts a shadow of doubt on our theory that he was using Bloomberg View to strengthen an eventual run at the presidency:

The mayor, a keen student of power, is privately conceding to friends that he will not be a candidate for president, a position he covets, and he is coming to grips with the reality that philanthropy, even on the sky-is-the-limit scale that he is planning, will not be enough to make him a potent force in national and international affairs.

So Mr. Bloomberg, 69, is trying on yet another new suit, that of policy-shaping publisher.

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David Shipley and James P. Rubin were named executive editors of The Bloomberg View less than a month ago and already they are moving offices.  Forbes.com’s Jeff Bercovici writes today that the two new hires will be splitting time between Bloomberg LP’s main offices on Lexington Avenue and the Bloomberg Family Foundation located on Madison Avenue and 78th Street.  According to a Bloomberg spokesperson, the move is simply the result of space limitations in the Lexington Avenue newsroom, however a pair of insiders say this measure was taken to avoid the conflict-of-interest restraints that separate Mayor Bloomberg from closely managing the company.

His interaction with the company is so highly regulated.  This enables Mike to meet with them, talk to them, have influence over what they write.

Bloomberg has toyed around in this legal gray area before  — most notably when he irked local government officials by appointing his former deputy mayor Patricia Harris CEO of his charity.  Although Bloomberg owns the office, his company would likely have to pay rent to the Family Foundation once the editors begin to work out of their space.

Bloomberg News editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler announced today that David Shipley and James P. Rubin have been named executive editors and will spearhead the launch of an editorial page called The Bloomberg View.  In their new roles Shipley and Rubin will oversee the creation of content and commentary across all of Bloomberg’s platforms.

Shipley comes from The New York Times where he served as deputy editorial page editor and op-ed editor.  Rubin is a former U.S. Department of State assistant secretary.  Winkler is confident he chose the right two men for the job:

David Shipley and Jamie Rubin bring incomparable experience and skill to the mandate of developing the Bloomberg View consistent with the values and beliefs of our global company and its internationally-minded founder, Michael R. Bloomberg.  David and Jamie have no peers as an editorial duo addressing the most important issues with a pragmatic sensibility that embraces the diverse challenges of the world.

While both are Winkler’s supervision, Shipley will manage editorial matters in the U.S. and Canada leaving Rubin to handle Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.