Bloomberg Wins 2015 Pulitzer Prize

Apr 21, 2015 11:10 AM ET

Originally posted on Bloomberg Now.

April 20, 2015

Bloomberg News reporter Zachary Mider today won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for his groundbreaking series on tax inversions that spurred reforms by the U.S. government.

In the “Tax Runaways” series of reports, Mider, working with managing editor Dan Golden, documented how U.S. corporations could lower their taxes and gain an edge on competitors simply by claiming a new legal address in a foreign country, even if their top executives remained in the U.S.

“This award is a testament first to Zach and his extraordinary journalism, but it is also a tribute to Matt Winkler who, along with Mike Bloomberg, built this news organization from scratch into what it is today,” said John Micklethwait. “Zach’s reporting is the kind of journalism that is the heart of what Bloomberg does to bring transparency to markets. This type of work is what drew me to Bloomberg and why we have retained and attracted some of the most talented journalists in the business.”

“We are grateful to be recognized by our peers for reporting that repeatedly broke news on an immensely complex topic,” said Matthew Winkler, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. “Zachʼs reporting introduced a new term to the American political lexicon and compelled policymakers to tackle this formerly obscure threat to the U.S. tax base.”

As part of the series, Mider analyzed hundreds of corporate filings in the U.S. and Europe and spoke with dozens of tax lawyers, executives, and government officials. Mider, working with managing editor Dan Golden, showed that the cost of inversions to U.S. taxpayers topped $10 billion and is accelerating.

Mider joined Bloomberg in 2006 after working as a reporter at the Providence Journal in Providence, Rhode Island. Mider is a graduate of Harvard College and of Deep Springs College.

Links to his Pulitzer-winning work are below:

I Hear America Singing ‘Never Pay Taxes’: The Inversion Operetta (12/18/14)

Ingersoll Finds Escaping U.S. Tax No Penalty as Contracts Flow (7/8/14)

Companies Fleeing IRS Pay CEOs Extra as Penalty Backfires: Taxes (1/27/14)

Tax Maneuver Criticized by Obama Helped U.S. Craft Delphi Rescue (8/6/14)Tax Dodge Used by Bain Shifts U.S. Firms Abroad Without Scrutiny (8/25/14)  

Tax Inversions Win When Government Lawyers Join Private Firms (10/27/14)

Unpatriotic Loophole’ Targeted by Obama Costs $2 Billion (12/2/14)

Tax Break Blarney: U.S. Companies Beat the System With Irish Addresses (5/4/14)

Bloomberg Visual Data: “Tracking Tax Runaways (Updated 12/12/14)

Quicktake: Tax Inversion: How U.S. Companies Buy Tax Breaks