Michael Bloomberg doesn’t plan to collect donations for his presidential campaign.

That means he won’t appear in the next Democratic debate — and risks missing the half-dozen debates planned for next year.

The billionaire businessman’s long-standing policy of bankrolling his own political ambitions puts him in conflict with the Democratic National Committee’s requirements for participating in presidential primary debates. The threshold for the upcoming debate — hosted by POLITICO and PBS NewsHour on Dec. 19 — is 200,000 donors, with 800 donors in 20 different states.

Bloomberg’s absence from the debate stage is no small hurdle for the former Republican. While his personal resources dwarve his rivals — his official campaign launch was accompanied by a massive $34 million ad buy — Bloomberg can ill afford to pass up the opportunity to lay out his rationale for running and contrast his views on a stage with his rivals.