Sorkin, Swisher and Bartiromo are biz journalists most followed by CEOS

Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times is the most-followed business journalist by chief executive officers on Twitter, according to a study by Rational 360.

Sorkin is followed by 21.6 percent of CEOs with Twitter accounts. Kara Swisher of Recode is second at 20.9 percent while Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business Network is third at 16.6 percent.

Rational 360 analyzed social media and media consumption habits of CEOs of 2017 Fortune 1000 and 2018 Fortune 500, Business Roundtable Board of Directors, Fast Company’s 2017 and 2018 Most Innovative Companies, and Fortune’s 40 Best Financial Services lists.

Out of 1,395 CEOs on those lists, 163 were active on Twitter.

Based on journalists followed on Twitter, CNBC is the most relied upon news outlet for CEOs. The New York Times and Bloomberg as the next most relied upon.

The process for distinguishing a “journalist” from another media figure was directed under the question, “Could someone pitch a story to this figure?” If the answer was no, then they were left off the list. For example, several late-night talk show hosts were followed by CEOs.

See the list of most-followed journalists here.