Michael Bloomberg saluted his staff as he ended his presidential campaign Wednesday for a historic achievement, telling them that 'No campaign has ever achieved as much as you did in such a short period of time.'

What he didn't mention is that they also burned through an astonishing amount of cash for a losing effort that failed to capture a single state.

In normal circumstances, the end of a campaign means almost every staffer would be fired, because the campaign itself has run out of purpose and most likely money.

But this time round Bloomberg 2020 has run out of neither: he was entirely self-funding and has both endorsed Joe Biden and pledged to keep going until November to defeat Donald Trump.

His spending of $1 billion is a fraction of his wealth of - according to Forbes - $54.8 billion, a figure which went up by more than $1 billion after he quit as the markets delighted in Joe Biden being the likely nominee and Bernie Sanders' healthcare policies apparently being off the agenda.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg spent hundreds of millions on his campaign, which failed to win a single state on Super Tuesday, although he did take American Samoa, a U.S. territory

He therefore remains potentially the Democrats' most significant spender, with the resources and intent to benefit not just Biden but down-ballot candidates across the country.

Bloomberg's path to that began Wednesday when he did not tell his campaign staff what they would have expected from any other failed candidate: 'You're fired.'

Instead in his farewell address, he offered no outline of what they should expect, and many had been taken on being told that they were hired until May or November.

That omission was intentional: behind the scenes, Bloomberg's team of cmapaign finance attorneys were scrambling to work out how as many as 2,400 staffers will work within the law.

As Bloomberg plots how to refocus his campaign empire operation toward the defeat of Donald Trump, who mocked him throughout his campaign, the full magnitude of his operation was still coming into focus.

It was an effort that put more than 2,000 aides on the payroll, paid extravagant salaries to exiles from Clinton and Obama campaigns, splurged on meals, accommodations and a network of field offices around the country, and flooded the airwaves.

The campaign's expenditures on food alone would be enough to mount a credible congressional contest in recent years.

The dining tab hit $750,000 – and that was before Bloomberg's February filings for the crush leading to Super Tuesday were due.

Included in that amount was $27,720 for sushi to keep his campaign army fed. For legal consulting, Bloomberg shelled out $3.1 million to the Venable firm.

His total disbursements were at $409 million according to the latest FEC records, with the total likely to rise substantially.

Well-paid staffers were outfitted with special Bloomberg terminals and Apple products.

Mike Bloomberg greets staff and volunteers as he stops by one of his campaign offices in the Little Havana neighborhood on March 3, 2020 in Miami, Florida. He suspended his campaign the following day

Actor Michael Douglas speaks to an audience in support of Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, not shown, at a Bloomberg campaign office, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020, in Quincy, Mass. Bloomberg had staff in 43 states

2,400 staff were put behind Bloomberg

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg speaks beside Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer during an appearance at Bloomberg's field office in Orlando on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. He built his organization for his 100 day campaign

Campaign signs and messages are placed in the windows at Mike Bloomberg's campaign office in Knoxville

Staffers got Apple phones and computers, as well as Bloomberg terminals that were key to the candidate's fortune

The campaign spent heavily on merchandise, which it distributed liberally at events

Bloomberg staff gave out free buttons and T-shirts at Bloomberg's final campaign event in Florida

Bloomberg's staff lined the hallways of a Florida convention center after his final rally

The precise scale of Bloomberg’s operation, while vast, was not entirely clear.

The most recent estimate was of 2,400 paid staff, all on salaries which were far higher than they would have expected elsewhere. They were deployed in 43 states in a national campaign that ignored the first four contests by design.

For example, entry-level field organizers would normally expect to earn the weekly equivalent of around $35,000 a year; Bloomberg offered $72,000 with benefits.

State political and communications directors are towards the top of the regular campaign structure and could expect normally maybe $6,000 a month - $72,000 a year – but Bloomberg offered $144,000 a year.

State press secretaries were on $120,000 a year.

The national political director was on $360,000 a year.

Headquarters staff benefits in New York were even more lavish – if they were not from the city, there were corporate furnished apartments on the East Side of Manhattan.

Every member of staff was issued with iPhones and Apple laptops.

The event, like other Bloomberg events, his final campaign rally featured a buffet

Two bartenders served beer and wine to guests

He acknowledged his 'incredible team' in American Samoa

Bloomberg tweeted out reports of his American Samoa win

Earlier in Miami Bloomberg bristled at suggestions he get out of the race before ballots were case

Kevin Sheekey, Global Head of Communications, Government Relations and Marketing for Bloomberg L.P. An array of campaign staff members drew six-figure salaries on the campaign

Campaign aides churned out effective online ads, but Bloomberg got hammered during the Las Vegas debate

So far undeclared is the final number of campaign field offices, but it appears to have been heading towards 200.

By the New York Times count in mid-February there were at least 120 offices then. Since then more were being opened in the next states to vote.

In Texas, the campaign opened 20 field offices. In Massachusetts, there were six, with a total of 60 workers.

Virginia, which had been seen as a key target state, had at least 80 workers in seven offices. He didn't win a delegate there, despite spending $18.4 million on TV ads in Virginia and North Carolina.

The campaign’s headquarters was in a Times Square office once home to the New York Times.

The New York Post estimated that the open floor space of more than 50,000 square feet would cost him $5 million a year. In New York City, hardly a place he needed to rack up votes, he also opened offices in Brooklyn and Harlem. In Brooklyn there were at least 20 staffers.

All the spending barely made a dent in Bloomberg's bottom line. Forbes estimates Bloomberg's wealth at $58 billion, a fortune he amassed with his financial and media empire.

Despite his failure to capture the nomination, the organization Bloomberg built has the potential to greatly influence the outcome of the race, as the cash-strapped Joe Biden gears up his effort against Sen. Bernie Sander and hopes for the chance to take on Trump with a unified party behind him.

On top of staff on the payroll, the scale of consultants helping will only become apparent in future FEC declarations.

Among those hired were ‘digital organizers’ who were essentially paid to tweet or post at $2,500 a month.

By mid-February there were certain to be more than 1,000, with the Los Angeles Times reporting it had accessed a document naming 400 in California alone.

The Facebook posts were so prolific that the platform changed its rules about telling users they were paid content.

Bloomberg spent it all over a period of just 100 days before he announced he would drop out Wednesday after a disappointing Super Tuesday finish. He failed to carry a single state, winning only in American Samoa, though Bloomberg took pride in winning million votes.

The campaign used its own tech firm, Hawkfish, which recruited from Google and Facebook.

CNBC reported that it was set up in Spring 2019 and was the ‘primary digital agency and technology services provider for the campaign.’

It was headed by Elisha Wiesel – son of the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and a former Goldman Sachs executive – and drew in a former Facebook chief marketing officer, Gary Briggs, and Jeff Glueck the CEO of Foursquare, the location-tracking tech firm which is now used by hundreds of apps.

The firm’s LinkedIn page in January said it ‘aims to support candidates and causes who will advance progress on climate change, gun safety, women’s rights, education, access to healthcare.’

The use of the plural suggests strongly that it will be a key element of Bloomberg’s vast arsenal of resources which he hopes to deploy for Democrats more widely.

Such assistance has the potential to outgun a Trump campaign which has made Facebook in particular the key to its election strategy.

Hawkfish has at least 78 employees according to LinkedIn but that number is likely to be a significant undercount – it only includes those who have it on their profile.

Hawkfish’s profile was updated in recent weeks to remove a claim it was from 50 to 200 employees, suggesting it could be intended to be more.

Unlike the campaign itself, Hawkfish was still recruiting Wednesday, with open ads for video editors and copywriters, the key to rapid advertising production.

There were ads about New York, ads with Judge Judy, ads attacking Trump in bitterly personal terms, ads about gun violence, ads about his love of Big Gay Ice Cream.

Until now presidential candidates have been presented in consistent lights in a handful of ads – mostly because it is so expensive to saturate the market.

More mundane tasks were also performed in a way no campaign before has done. Even his speeches were transcribed and provided to reporters meaning he had a staff of stenographers similar to the West Wing’s.

The cost of the advertising campaign will be fully declared by the end of the month.

But its scale and variety was unheard of and repeatedly prompted Trump to tweet angrily about it.

In some TV markets it was so aggressive that prices for political advertising spiked by 45 per cent, Politico reported. Television stations are legally obliged to provide ad time at the lowest applicable rate, but that is calculated by demand – which Bloomberg provided.

Shares in publicly-traded owners of local broadcasters went up, bucking market trends.

Because the campaign will only have to declare national figures, its local impact is not made public.

But CNBC reported that in California, Advertising Analytics put spending at $36 million by mid-February – before he ramped up ads to lean into Super Tuesday – and $30 million in Texas.

Bloomberg also adopted an advertising strategy only available to the biggest buyers and never before attempted by a presidential campaign: multiple messages rather than one, as practiced by Geico, which has more than one ad agency on retainer.

The final number of different ads does not have to be declared but one Slate journalist wrote on February 17 that he had watched 185 different productions. Since then the number appeared to have been stepped up.

Research by Hugh Dougherty