OLD Media Moves

CNBC's bad business move

February 4, 2009

Rachel Sklar writes on The Daily Beast that CNBC letting senior vice president Jonathan Wald leave at the end of March could be a bad move for the business news network.

Sklar writes, “For his part, Wald told the Daily Beast: ‘They wanted me to stay, I wanted to stay—we just couldn’t in the end work out a deal we could both be happy with.’

“Here was the source of the collective eyebrow raise. Is it really that hard to retain your top executive in a recession during the best run in your network’s 20-year history? When he doesn’t even have another job lined up?

“Apparently so.

“But maybe it’s not such a surprise. If you’re the guy who’s gotten the credit for a double-digit ratings hike in 2006 and 2007 — not to mention the exponential spike during the financial crisis — at some point, you’re going to want a promotion. But Hoffman has reportedly just re-upped to stay on for another five years so moving up a rung was not at option. You’re also going to want some money — but according to sources within NBC and CNBC, Hoffman wasn’t ponying up.”

Read more here.

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