LOS ANGELES (AP) - Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and has endorsed Joe Biden.

It was a stunning collapse for the former New York City mayor, who had pinned his 2020 hopes on the Super Tuesday states and drained more than $500 million from his own fortune into his ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

Bloomberg announced his departure Wednesday after a disappointing finish on Super Tuesday in the slate of states that account for almost one-third of the total delegates available in the Democratic nominating contest.

Some of his former Democratic rivals had coalesced around Biden as the moderate alternative to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

3/4/2020 10:14:50 AM (GMT -5:00)