Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish view of the future after the news that Comcast would spin off the network, reports Geoff Weiss and Lucia Moses of Business Insider.

Weiss and Moses report, “On Wednesday, CNBC anchors shared some worries and dark humor on-air, with ‘Squawk Box’ coanchor Joe Kernan quipping, ‘We’re going out into the cold, cruel world.’

“Lazarus, who will be SpinCo’s CEO, addressed a packed newsroom Thursday at CNBC and didn’t hold a Q&A, though he mingled with staff and took questions one-on-one afterward. While speaking with staff, Lazarus said the new company would keep the money generated by its properties and pursue other M&A targets, describing it as entrepreneurial and flexible, one CNBC staffer said.

“Lazarus said SpinCo ‘would be a predator, not prey’ and examine various targets ‘like digital businesses and IP,’ a second CNBC staffer recalled.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.