Maria Bartiromo, the “money honey” that has been the face of CNBC, is moving to Fox Business Network, as first reported on the Drudge Report on Monday.
According to Drudge, “sources close to the situation say there have been ongoing conversations throughout the Fall.” As of this writing, the report has been corroborated by TV Newser.
Bartiromo will anchor “a daily market hours program on FOX BUSINESS,” and there will also reportedly be a role for her at Fox News.
Her move comes as CNBC has seen its ratings hit a 20-year low. Bartiromo has been at the network for those 20 years, having joined CNBC in 1993, when Roger Ailes, the current president of Fox News, was head of CNBC. Ailes became head of Fox News when he launched the network in 1996.
In August, Bartiromo interviewed golfer Phil Mickelson after hw won the Scottish Open and the British Open and had to pay over 60% of his winnings in taxes. Mickelson revealed to her that high taxes discourage him from working harder and that his friends who are CEOs were not hiring because of the uncertainty that Obamacare was creating.
A CNBC spokesperson confirmed to TVNewser that Bartiromo is leaving the network: “After 20 years of groundbreaking work at CNBC, Maria Bartiromo will be leaving the company as her contract expires on November 24,” the spokesperson said. “Her contributions to CNBC are too numerous to list but we thank her for all of her hard work over the years and wish her the best.”