NEW YORK, NY July 10, 2009 —Mayor Bloomberg lost at least $8.5 million in the stock market last year, according to heavily edited 2008 tax returns released today. WNYC's Lisa Chow reports.

REPORTER: Only the mayor knows how much he lost last year. As usual, his tax returns were redacted to avoid revealing specific dollar amounts on his sizable investments and income. Instead he used ranges represented by the letters A through G - with G meaning more than half a million dollars. Given that Bloomberg's wealth was estimated by Forbes at $16 billion this year, those ranges are relatively meaningless.

The one number Bloomberg did provide - $235 million - was how much he gave away to charity. Bloomberg's main source of income, by far, is his earnings from Bloomberg LP. After buying back a stake from Merrill Lynch last year, he now controls 85 percent of the company. For WNYC, I'm Lisa Chow.