Why Bartiromo left CNBC for Fox Business

Julia LaRoche and Henry Blodget of Business Insider write Friday about the real reasons why longtime CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo decided to leave the business news channel for rival Fox Business Network.

LaRoche and Blodget write, “Yes, CNBC’s ratings have been low of late, but they’re still well above FOX Business Network’s ratings. CNBC still remains the No. 1 business news channel.

“According to a source familiar with Bartiromo’s thinking, her decision came down to three factors:

• Money. FOX made a big offer. CNBC increased its own offer, but didn’t quite match FOX’s.
• Visibility. FOX is going to give Bartiromo a live Sunday show on the FOX News Channel, which has a vastly larger audience than either business network. Bartiromo explored the possibility of hosting a similar show on NBC, but “Meet The Press” was taken and NBC wasn’t willing to create a similar slot for her.
• The opportunity to, once again, help build something. FOX Business is no longer a startup network, but it has a long way to go before it challenges CNBC as the most popular business network.

“FOX’s overtures were also made more attractive and persuasive by the personal involvement of FOX boss Roger Ailes. Ailes persuaded Bartiromo that he would be personally committed to helping her further develop her career, support that Bartiromo did not feel she would have at CNBC and NBC.”