Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) Chief Executive Stan O'Neal, who is holding onto his job by a thread, likely will sell the Wall Street firm's 20% stake in my old employer, Bloomberg LP, to shore up his company's bottom line. Heck, O'Neal's successor probably will sell it as well.

If I was a betting man, I would bet that company founder and current New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg will probably buy out Merrill. Maybe a private equity player would buy the Merrill interest, reportedly valued at $20 billion, that Fortune values at least $4 billion. The magazine says Bloomberg LP is worth at least $20 billion. But I'm not sure Bloomberg would be willing to cede any management control to an outside investor. The same goes for a huge media company such as News Corp (NYSE: NWS) or Time Warner (NYSE: TWX).

What was obvious to even the lowliest peons at Bloomberg -- including me -- is that the company really likes being private. Management was always willing to try almost anything to keep people glued to their Bloomberg terminals even if it didn't earn an immediate profit. Legend has it, one time Mike Bloomberg noticed that people were away from their Bloombergs and learned that a major sporting event was going on -- he decided on the spot that the company would provide sports news. I have no idea whether this story is true, but knowing the company's corporate culture, it sure seems to be on the mark.

If Bloomberg was public, the company would have never started a cable TV network, published a glossy magazine or purchased an AM radio station in New York. I doubt that any public company would have expanded Bloomberg News. It appears as though its patience has been rewarded. Bloomberg TV, in particular, seems to have gained some traction and poses almost as big of a threat to the new Fox Business Network as CNBC.

Mike Bloomberg is a savvy entrepreneur. He wisely resisted jumping on the internet bandwagon because he couldn't figure out how to make any money at it. For a while, Bloomberg LP tried to keep the internet at bay. It designed a website to be difficult to use because it was afraid that if gave away too much information for free that people would stop shelling out big bucks for Bloomberg terminals. The company wisely saw that this was foolish and revamped its site, which now is one of the best for business news on the web.

Despite Mike Bloomberg's statements to the contrary, I have a tough time believing that he is totally removed from the daily operations at Bloomberg LP. Though there has been rampant speculation that he will sell out, so far he's not done it, nor has he taken the company public. Bloomberg and his management team like being in control of their own destiny. That's why chances are real good that he will take some time off from his day job and write Merrill a huge check.