Maria Bartiromo | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Bartiromo in 2015 | |
| Born | Maria Sara Bartiromo (1967-09-11)September 11, 1967 (age 57) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Long Island University, Post New York University (BA) |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Employer | Fox Corporation |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Saul Steinberg (father-in-law) |
| Website | bartiromo |
Maria Sara Bartiromo (born September 11, 1967) is an American conservative journalist and author who has also worked as a financial reporter and news anchor.[1] She is the host ofMornings with Maria andMaria Bartiromo's Wall Street on theFox Business channel, andSunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo on theFox News channel.[2]
Bartiromo worked atCNN as a producer for five years before joiningCNBC in 1993, where she worked on-air for 20 years. With CNBC, she was the host ofClosing Bell andOn the Money with Maria Bartiromo. She was the first television journalist to deliver live television reports from the floor of theNew York Stock Exchange. She has won several awards for her work on these programs, including twoEmmy Awards. Nicknamed the "Money Honey", she garnered considerable attention within the financial industry in addition to the media. Her work for CNBC was largely non-political in its subject matter and approach.
In 2013, she left CNBC to host shows forFox.[3] During thefirst presidency of Donald Trump, she became an advocate for the Trump administration, giving him frequent unchallenging interviews.[4][5] She is one of threeFox Corporation program hosts named in a $2.7 billiondefamation lawsuit bySmartmatic relating to unproven conspiracy theories used inattempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.[6][7][8][9] As of April 2023, the lawsuit was in thediscovery phase.[10] Bartiromo was among the hosts named in theDominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network defamation lawsuit for broadcastingfalse statements about theplaintiff company'svoting machines thatFox News settled for $787.5 million and required Fox News to acknowledge that the broadcast statements were false.[11][12][13]
Bartiromo was born toItalian-American parents Vincent and Josephine Bartiromo, and was raised in theDyker Heights area ofBrooklyn in New York City.[4][14][15][16] Her father owned the Rex Manor restaurant in Brooklyn, and her mother served as the hostess. Her mother also worked as a clerk at anoff-track betting parlor.[17][18] Her mother's family was fromAgrigento, Sicily.[19] Her grandfather Carmine Bartiromo immigrated to the United States fromNocera, Campania in 1933, settling in New York and serving in theUS Armed Forces.[20]
Bartiromo attendedFontbonne Hall Academy, an all-girls private Catholic school inBay Ridge.[21] During this time, she worked at thecoat check at her father's restaurant and as a stock clerk at a wedding dress shop.[17] She was fired from the latter for trying on newly arrived dresses before putting them away; she recalled "I cried the whole way home, but I learned a valuable lesson and that is – do your job."[17]
Bartiromo started college atC. W. Post before transferring toNew York University.[16] During her college years, she worked at the same betting parlor where her mother worked.[22] She graduated from NYU's Washington Square Campus in 1989[23] with aBachelor of Arts in journalism and economics.[1]
While at NYU she became involved with radio, interning onBarry Farber's show onWMCA 570.[24][25] Farber was impressed by her willingness and capability in doing behind-the-scenes tasks associated with the role.[26][25] Following that, she interned atCNN.[17]
After her internship, which began in 1988 or 1989, Bartiromo spent five years as anexecutive producer and assignment editor withCNN Business.[27] Her supervisor at CNN wasLou Dobbs, who later became a colleague atFox Business.[17][4] She also worked as aproduction assistant forStuart Varney there.[28]
In 1993, Bartiromo was hired by executiveRoger Ailes to replace analyst Roy Blumberg at CNBC, and began reporting live from the floor of theNew York Stock Exchange, as well as hosting and contributing to theMarket Watch andSquawk Box segments.[4][17][1] Bartiromo became the first journalist to deliver live television reports from the raucous floor of New York Stock Exchange.[17]The Guardian newspaper described the scene as, "viewers could watch Bartiromo amid the tumult on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, straining her voice to be heard as she delivered reports to camera ..., her 5ft 5in frame [1.65m] often jostled by burly traders. "[29] She has said of that innovation: "I got bumped around a little, but it was very exciting — a new, instantaneous way of reporting market news. We immediately had a big following. "[22]
Bartiromo was the anchor and managing editor of the CNBC business interview showOn the Money with Maria Bartiromo[1] (calledThe Wall Street Journal Report during much of this time). Beginning in 2007, she hostedThe Business of Innovation. She hosted several other programs, includingClosing Bell (2002–2013),Market Wrap (1998–2000), andBusiness Center (1997–1999). She became known for the ability to get CEOs of companies in the news to come on her show for an interview.[16] She became influential.[29]
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Bartiromo appeared on television shows such asNBC Universal'sThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno andLate Night with Conan O'Brien,CBS Television Distribution'sThe Oprah Winfrey Show,HBO'sReal Time with Bill Maher,Warner Bros. Television's short-livedThe Caroline Rhea Show, CNBC's even shorter-existingMcEnroe, andComedy Central'sThe Colbert Report, as well as guest-hosting on the syndicatedLive with Regis and Kelly.[30]
Over the years, writers for multiple media outlets have commented on her good looks and likened her appearance to that of the Italian actressSophia Loren.[29][26][14][31][32] It is a comparison that Bartiromo has acknowledged and welcomed as a compliment.[33]
Bartiromo was nicknamed the "Money Honey" in the mid-to-late 1990s, a moniker that she had conflicted feelings about lest it diminish her credibility as a financial journalist.[26][29][27][34] In January 2007, Bartiromo filed trademark applications to use the term "Money Honey" as a brand name for a line of children's products, including toys, puzzles and coloring books, to teach kids about money.[35][36] By some accounts she later let the trademarks expire.[34]
Bartiromo anchored the television coverage of New York City'sColumbus Day Parade beginning in 1995 and was the Grand Marshal in 2010.[37]
In 2006–07 there was controversy over Bartiromo possibly being too close socially to some of the executives she was covering, which included overseas trips with some such sources.[25][26][16] In part, that was part and parcel of her role to add "pizazz and drama".[26] AsThe New York Times wrote, "in her years as CNBC's most recognizable face, [she] has lent to the reporting of once gray business news a veneer of gloss and celebrity." But theTimes noted that: "Typically, Ms. Bartiromo's interviewing style can be probing, aggressive and, her special access notwithstanding, she can make even some of her best sources sweat a bit on camera. "[26] CNBC defended her on the matter, saying that the trips in question were properly approved and that "her journalistic integrity was never compromised",[25] and Bartiromo retained the confidence of NBC upper management.[16]
Following the2007–2008 financial crisis, which featured the collapse of some Wall Street firms and the federal bailouts of others, Bartiromo commented in an interview: "I'm a free-market capitalist who would like to think that the market can correct itself. Unfortunately, the structures we have in place dropped the ball. The boards of directors were asleep at the wheel. So were the regulators. I believe that so-called independent boards of directors should be held accountable for their firms, too. Wall Street today faces the wrath of their shareholders and the scorn of the public. There's got to be substantial change from within to regain public trust. "[38]
Bartiromo signed a new five-year contract with CNBC in late 2008 (equivalent to $5,559,000 in 2023).[39] Her salary there was around $4 million a year.[16] Former colleagueDylan Ratigan has said that Bartiromo "is a generational icon for financial television. Full stop. "[16]
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On November 18, 2013, it was announced that Bartiromo was leaving CNBC to joinFox Business (FBN).[40] According to theDrudge Report, her deal with Fox Business called for her to anchor a daily market hours program and to have a role onFox News as well.[40] Her first show with Fox Business wasOpening Bell with Maria Bartiromo. She expanded the subject domains she covered to include not just the stock market but also larger questions of public policy and the overall economy.[41]
Since her time with the Fox Business channel, the ratings for her show began to surge when she became an important news source for Trump supporters.[42]
The developments of the2016 Republican presidential nomination race benefited her ratings, as she developed an on-air relationship with Trump.[42]
In regard to the2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums, she was one of three moderators for Fox Business of the debate of November 10, 2015 at theMilwaukee Theatre and she and her colleagues were credited with keeping a focus on economics and for overseeing a largely civil discussion among the candidates.[43][44] She even drew some boos from the audience for suggesting that likely Democratic nomineeHillary Clinton had much more relevant experience than the candidates on stage.[45] She then co-hosted on Fox Business another Republican debate, this time on January 14, 2016 in theNorth Charleston Coliseum,[46] one that was not previously planned but awarded on the basis of the first performance.[47] One assessment of the North Charleston debate was that the moderators were initially mild but got tougher as the debate went on and delved more into matters economic.[47]
During the 2016 general election, she commented on the differing ways that Wall Street would react to either candidate winning.[41] She received a good deal of attention during this period for her sartorial choices for the traditionalAl Smith Dinner.[41] But as the election ran on towards its conclusion, Bartiromo took an increasingly sharppro-Trump stance,[42] such as repeating trolling Internet posts attacking Clinton.[48]
After Trump became president in 2017, she became an advocate for theTrump administration, frequently repeating administration talking points.[16] She also gave friendly, non-challengingsoftball interviews to Trump and amplified Trump administrationconspiracy theories andfalsehoods.[4][5][49][50][51][52][53] In her Trump interviews, she expressed agreement with and did not question Trump's claims, many of which had been debunked as false or unsubstantiated.[52][50][54][53] Making reference toallegations that Trump's predecessor,Barack Obama, used the U.S. intelligence community to spy on the Trump campaign and transition, Bartiromo said that 2016 requests by Obama administration officials tounmask the identity of an American who was the subject of a counterintelligence operation (who turned out to be Trump associateMichael Flynn) was "the biggest political scandal we've ever seen. "[55] Attorney generalBill Barr named federal prosecutorJohn Bash to lead an investigation, which concluded months later with no findings of substantive wrongdoing and no public report.[56]
In late November 2020, afterTrump lost his bid for reelection, Bartiromo conducted the first post-election interview with Trump. Before the interview, Bartiromo textedMark Meadows, then Trump's chief of staff, with advice that included questions she planned to ask Trump.[57] In the interview, she backed Trump's false claims of election fraud and hisattempt to overturn the election results, claiming that Trump was being overthrown in a "coup".[32][4] Bartiromo was criticized for her conduct in the 45-minute interview,[32][58][4] in which she never asked Trump to substantiate his claims of fraud.[4][32]Brian Stelter of CNN contrasted his recall of Bartiromo's earlier career to his perception of her time spent interviewing Trump as "Maria Bartiromo, once a feared and acclaimed journalist, best known for working the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, forcing CEOs to tell the truth, now sits behind a desk and invites the president to lie and lie and lie."[59] Trump praised Bartiromo as being "brave" for her approach to discussing the disputes.[4] Bartiromo then defended herself by claiming that much of the media, such as CNN andThe New York Times, were taking a side and engaging in "election interference".[60] In his November 2021 book,Betrayal, former ABC News chief White House correspondentJonathan Karl reported a November 2020 incident when Bartiromo called attorney generalBill Barr "to complain that the DOJ hadn't done anything to stop the Democrats from stealing the election." Barr told Karl, "She called me up and she was screaming. I yelled back at her. She's lost it. "[61]
According to media reporterBrian Stelter, Bartiromo's unsourced and poorly sourced on-air conversation withSidney Powell on November 8, 2020, largely started the network's false and potentially defamatory claims about the election, which Trump lost—Bartiromo did no fact checking, no push back, nor even ask for evidence, merely repeating "unhinged" and false claims.[62] Bartiromo was an outspoken proponent on her program of baseless allegations that rigged voting machines stole the election from Donald Trump. HostsLou Dobbs andJeanine Pirro also promoted the falsehoods on their programs. Attorneys forSmartmatic, a voting machine company that had been baselessly accused of conspiring with competitorDominion Voting Systems to rig the election, sent Fox News a letter in December 2020 threatening legal action and demanding retractions that "must be published on multiple occasions" so as to "match the attention and audience targeted with the original defamatory publications." The three programs each ran the same three-minute video segment refuting the baseless allegations days later, consisting of an election security expert being interviewed by an unseen and unidentified man, though none of the three hosts personally issued retractions.[63][64] In February 2021, Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox News, three of its hosts, including Bartiromo, and two network guests. A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled in March 2022 that the suit against Fox News could proceed, dismissing allegations against two individuals but allowing claims against Bartiromo to stand.[6]
In January 2021, after thestorming of the U.S. Capitol that was carried out by a mob of supporters of Trump, Bartiromo hosted Trump economic advisorPeter Navarro on her show, where he falsely claimed in the interview that Trump had won the election. Bartiromo concurred, falsely claiming, "We know that there were irregularities in this election. "[65][66] In a broadcast on January 19, she falsely claimed that Democrats wore MAGA clothing and were behind the storming of the Capitol.[67][68] In July 2021, Bartiromo referencedAshli Babbitt, who was shot while part of a pro-Trump mob trying to push through a barricaded door inside the U.S. Capitol building, a "wonderful woman" who "went to peaceful protest."[69][70]
In October 2024, Bartiromo promoted a story fromThe Gateway Pundit, afar-rightfake news website, claiming that Arizona Secretary of StateAdrian Fontes was trying to "hide" an "election integrity problem" in Arizona.[71][72]
Five years after joining the fledgling network, both her shows and the channel itself was surpassing CNBC in audience size some of the time.[73] In September 2019, she signed a new multi-year deal with FBN.[74] That year,TheStreet.com reported that Bartiromo had an annual salary of $10 million, seventh highest among American television news anchors of any kind.[75]
During the latter part of January 2021, at the outset of theBiden administration, Fox News gave Bartiromo a trial run to head one of Fox News' primetime slots, the new weekday 7 p.m.Fox News Primetime political opinions show.[49][76] Her guest hosting stint began the week of January 25, 2021.[77] She did not get the time slot.
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Bartiromo is the author of several books. Her first wasUse the News: How to Separate the Noise from the Investment Nuggets and Make Money in Any Economy (HarperCollins, 2001). Her next two books wereThe 10 Laws of Enduring Success (Crown Business, 2010) andThe Weekend That Changed Wall Street (Portfolio Hardcover, 2011).[78] A fourth book, of which she held the status of co-author along withJames Freeman, was titledThe Cost: Trump, China, and American Renewal (Simon & Schuster, 2020).[79]
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Bartiromo is the recipient of an Excellence in Broadcast Journalism Award (1997); a Lincoln Statue Award presented by theUnion League of Philadelphia (2004); aGracie Award, for Outstanding Documentary (2008);[80] and two Emmy Awards, anEmmy Award for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story (2008)[81] and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting (2009).[82]
In 2009, theFinancial Times listed Bartiromo as one of "50 Faces That Shaped the Decade".[83] In 2011, she was the third journalist to be inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame.[1][84] In 2016, she was inducted into theLibrary of American Broadcasting.[83]
The Maria Bartiromo Broadcast Journalism Studio at Fontbonne Hall Academy, the high school she attended, is named after her.[21] She was the keynote speaker for Fontbonne's 80th anniversary gala in 2018.[21]
Bartiromo is on board of trustees ofNew York University, her alma mater.[16] She gave the commencement speech at theNYU Stern School of Business in 2012.[16] She has also taught there, acting as anadjunct professor at the Stern School from 2010 to 2013.[85] The seminar that she co-taught in fall 2010, titled "Global Markets and Normative Frameworks", filled its registration in 10 minutes.[86]
She has been on the board of trustees for theNew York City Ballet.[26] She is a member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations and theEconomic Club of New York.[87] She has been on the board of theGirl Scout Council of Greater New York, Public Education Needs Civic Involvement and Leadership (PENCIL) in New York, and theYoung Global Leaders of theWorld Economic Forum.[87] She is a member of the board of governors of theColumbus Citizens Foundation, and in 2010 was the grand marshal of theColumbus Day Parade.[88][87]
In 1999, Bartiromo married Jonathan Steinberg,[89] chief executive officer ofWisdomTree Investments and son of billionaire financierSaul Steinberg.[4][18][90] They first met in 1990, soon after her college graduation.[26] The ceremony was held at the home of the bridegroom and was officiated by a rabbi.[89]
The couple own a beach house in the hamlet ofWesthampton, New York.[17] They have also lived in a five-story townhouse onManhattan's Upper East Side.[22]
Bartiromo appeared as herself in several films:Risk/Reward, a documentary about the lives of women on Wall Street (2003); the 2009 remake ofThe Taking of Pelham 123, an action film about armed men who hijack a New York City subway train; the sequel drama filmWall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010); the documentaryInside Job (2010); and the finance thriller,Arbitrage (2012).
Joey Ramone, of the punk rock pioneersThe Ramones, developed a friendship with Bartiromo after his band broke up in the late 1990s.[38] He subsequently wrote a song titled "Maria Bartiromo" that appeared on his solo albumDon't Worry About Me, released posthumously in 2002.[29]
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