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What does the terminal really give you that you can't get from various other data sources scattered around the Internet, like your brokerage's own API, third-party data sources, various forums and subreddits, ...? Is it just the real-time firehose nature of the thing?
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For instance, Bloomberg provide you with:

- real-time data on financial instrument prices;

- real-time news (own and syndicated);

- an email address (firstname.lastname@bloomberg.net) used to email and chat with other professionals on the Bloomberg network. This is like LinkedIn and WhatsApp combined for people in finance, and people can keep the address for two years after e.g. losing a job, so they can use the network to find a new role.

- analytical software: tools to calculate various KPIs to assess and analyze business opportunities.

- capability to transact: The BB terminal is not just an information system, it also permits you to buy and sell directly.

(My university has one BB terminal that MBA students can access and get training on.)

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this answers the question pretty comprehensively i think. https://theterminalist.substack.com/p/bloombergs-7-powers-an...
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The big one is that almost all of those data sources are subject to a 15 minute delay...
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"Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg terminal".

Next week it will be in Bloomberg Business Week, long after it had trading value. Bloomberg has its own news collection and analysis operation, bigger than almost all US newspapers.

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For many years ending around, a Bloomberg BusinessWeek paper magazine subscription was an incredible bargain. It was often possible (through tons of discount magazine sites) to get it for like $25 a year or less, and you could link that subscription online to get access to a lot of Bloomberg.com articles. Far from Terminal access of course, but I still really enjoyed the in-depth journalism and analysis. Around 2020 or so they pulled it off that type of distribution, now it's $100 a year and doesn't come with any online access other than the magazine articles themselves. And the full subscription to digital is $400 a year. It's priced just high enough to make it hard to justify for those who aren't real finance professionals. I really miss Bloomberg since the hard paywall went up.
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Structured, deep and wide
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