WASHINGTON, March 4 -- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that he's suspending his presidential campaign and is endorsing former Vice President Joe Biden.
The announcement came after a disappointing finishing for Bloomberg in Super Tuesday's Democratic primaries, in which he only won American Samoa.
"I'm a believer in using data to inform decisions. After yesterday's results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible - and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists," Bloomberg said in a statement.
The billionaire entrepreneur, who made a late entry into the presidential race and has spent over 500 million U.S. dollars on advertising, also said that he's glad to endorse Biden, a moderate political veteran who most of the 14 states voting on Tuesday.
A champion of progressive policies, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont finished second but scored a major win in California, the state with the most pledged delegates to July's Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Biden, in a tweet on Wednesday, thanked Bloomberg for his endorsement.
"This race is bigger than candidates and bigger than politics," Biden added.
David Axelrod, director of the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics, said Bloomberg's departure "was expected."
"He's a flinty-eyed realist and the numbers weren't there," the former chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns. "The big news was his quick pledge to back Biden, with all the material support that implies. It could turn out to be one of the most meaningful developments of 2020."
Sitting President Donald Trump, who is projected to easily win the Republican Party's primaries on Tuesday, weighed in on Bloomberg's exit and lashed out at Biden with a series of tweets on Wednesday morning.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii are still in the Democratic primary race, as a Biden-Sanders matchup took shape.
"Before the pundits call it a day, the ST (Super Tuesday) results don't mean this competition is over," Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, tweeted on Wednesday.
Sanders "has a substantial number of delegates, many important contests still ahead, and everyone should see by now that uncertainty is the only certainty," Zelizer stressed.
The next Democratic primaries will take place on March 10 for voters of six states to cast ballot for their preferred presidential candidate this year.
The Super Tuesday Democratic primary decided over 1,300 pledged delegates to the DNC or roughly a third of the total. Typically, a candidate is only eligible to receive a share of the pledged delegates at stake if they win at least 15 percent of votes cast in a primary or caucus.
To win the Democratic presidential nomination, a candidate must receive support from a majority of all the 3,979 pledged delegates on the first ballot of the DNC, which election officials said must be at least 1,991 delegates.
The Republican Party is expected to nominate Trump for a second term during August's national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The 2020 U.S. presidential election will take place on Nov. 3.