Maria “Money Honey” Bartiromo is the face and star of CNBC, a network that has been her home for 20 years. With her five-year contract set to expire, the New York Post reports that through the high-powered Create Artists Agency, she is shopping around for a new home that could include CNN or Fox Business:
The business TV dynamo reached out and hired mega-talent agency CAA earlier this year. She is working with the agency’s boss, Richard Lovett, considered one of the top TV and Hollywood agents, and Olivia Metzger, a former CNBC talent scout, who heads CAA’s Big Apple office.
The Brooklyn-born Bartiromo famously was the first woman to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She has been with CNBC since 1993 and is said to earn between $2 million and $3 million a year.
A spokeswoman for FBN said: “There are no serious discussions going on.” CNN had no comment. A spokesman for CNBC said: “She is under contract with CNBC.”
Reached Friday as she was flying back from Lake Tahoe, where she reported from the American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament, Bartiromo, in an email, told The Post: “I don’t have any comment on anything right now.”
The intrepid brunette referred further questions to CAA.
Bartiromo could simply be engaging in the art of negotiation. Sending feelers out to the competition is a classic tactic used to up a current salary. The Post says Bartiromo earns between $2 million and $3 million per year and that CNBC has been suffering from a declining ratings. So has Bartiromo’s weekday show.
Regardless, if the Fox Business Network picked her up, that would be seen as a game changer.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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