This article is about the business news channel in the United States. For its sister general news channel, seeMSNBC. For all international CNBC channels, seeList of CNBC channels. For other uses, seeCNBC (disambiguation).
Television channel
CNBC
Logo used since 2023. It is based on the2022 NBC logo.
CNBC was originally founded in April 1989 as theConsumer News and Business Channel, a joint venture betweenNBC andCablevision. Following its 1991 bankruptcy, NBC acquired the competingFinancial News Network (FNN) and merged it into CNBC, and acquired Cablevision's stake in CNBC to give it full ownership. In addition to its U.S. operations, CNBC operates the international branchesCNBC Europe andCNBC Asia, and is involved in otherinternational affiliates via joint ventures andfranchise arrangements. In 2023, CNBC had higher total day and primetime viewership than its chief rival,Fox Business, but finished behind Fox in trading day viewership.[1][2][3] CNBC launched anover-the-top media service known asCNBC+ in 2025, which starts at $14.99 a month and $99.99 a year.
CNBC's roots date back to the founding in 1979 of theSatellite Program Network (SPN), which showed a low-budget mix of old movies and instructional and entertainment programs. The channel later changed its name to Tempo Television. After initially signing a letter of intent to acquire Tempo,[4]NBC opted for a deal to lease the channel'stransponder in June 1988.[5] On this platform, and under the guidance ofTom Rogers, the channel was relaunched on April 17, 1989, as theConsumer News and Business Channel withNeil Cavuto anchoring this first broadcast. NBC andCablevision initially operated CNBC as a 50–50joint venture,[6][7] and it was headquartered inFort Lee, New Jersey.Sue Herera and Scott Cohn joined CNBC at its inception.[8][9][10]
CNBC had considerable difficulty getting cable carriage at first, as many providers were skeptical of placing it alongside the longer-establishedFinancial News Network. By the winter of 1990, CNBC was in only 17 million homes – less than half of FNN's potential reach – despite the size of NBC, its parent.[11]
After anaccounting scandal, FNN filed forbankruptcy protection on March 2, 1991, and put itself up for sale. After a bidding war with aDow Jones & Company–Westinghouse Broadcasting consortium, CNBC was awarded FNN by a bankruptcy judge for $154.3 million on May 21, 1991, and merged the two operations.[12] CNBC hired around 60 of FNN's 300-person workforce, includingJoe Kernen who is still with the channel, joined CNBC at that time.[13][14] Other former FNN's workforce were hired byBloomberg Television.[15] The deal increased the distribution of the network to over 40 million homes.[15] Cablevision sold its 49.5% stake in CNBC to NBC upon completion of the deal.[16]
Roger Ailes was hired as the president of CNBC in August 1993,[17][18] tasked by NBC CEOBob Wright with turning around the struggling network. Ailes resigned in January 1996 due to disagreements with management including the decision by NBC management to form a joint venture withMicrosoft that included the rebrand of "America's Talking" asMSNBC. Under the leadership of Ailes, annual revenue at CNBC rose from $43 million to $110 million.[19][20]
In December 1997, CNBC formed a strategic alliance with Dow Jones, including content sharing withDow Jones Newswires,The Wall Street Journal,MarketWatch, andBarron's and the rebranding of the channel as "a service of NBC and Dow Jones". As part of the agreement, Dow Jones merged their competing business news channels—London-based European Business News and Singapore-basedAsia Business News—into CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia respectively, with CNBC shutting down its Hong Kong–based operation and relocating the new CNBC Asia to ABN's Singapore studios.[23][24][25]
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, CNBC's ratings increased sharply along with the stock market, often beating those ofCNN during market hours.[26] The highest daytime viewership of the network in 2000 was 343,000.[27]
However, after the burst of thedot-com bubble, CNBC's viewing figures declined in tandem. In 2002, CNBC's ratings fell 44% and were down another 5% in 2003.[28] The network's ratings steadily fell until bottoming in Q1 2005, with an average viewership of 134,000 during the day.[29]
From 2001 to 2006, the CNBC website was operated byMSN.[30][31]
In August 2003, CNBC signed a deal to provide weather content fromAccuWeather.[32]
NBC Universal reacquired full control of loss-making CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia from Dow Jones at the end of 2005. The licensing agreement between Dow and CNBC U.S. remained intact, until it expired in 2012.[35]
CNBC reported annual revenues of $510 million in 2006.[36] In September 2006, CNBC launched the FTSE CNBC Global 300stock market index in conjunction withFTSE Group. The index includes the fifteen largest companies from each of the sectors of theIndustry Classification Benchmark as well as the thirty largest companies fromemerging markets.[37] Profits at CNBC exceeded $333 million in 2007, making CNBC the second most profitable of NBC Universal's thirteen cable channels in the United States, behind only theUSA Network.[38] Ratings hit an all-time high in 2007.[39][40]
CNBC Africa was launched on June 1, 2007.[41] On October 22, 2007, CNBC introduced the "CNBC Investor Network", a network ofwebcams stationed in the operating departments of various independent financial institutions across the United States, allowing traders to be interviewed instantaneously as news breaks.[42] In December 2007, CNBC formed a content partnership withYahoo! Finance.[43]
In January 2008, CNBC formed a content partnership withThe New York Times, which was seen as an attempt by both parties to take on increased competition from News Corporation.[44][45][46] In May 2008, CNBC formed a content partnership withAOL.[47]
Average daytime viewership (6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) reached a seven-year high of 310,000 viewers in the first quarter of 2008.[38] Ratings plummeted in 2009 as the network aired bad economic news resulting from theGreat Recession.[48] In January 2010, the launch of theKorean language channelSBS-CNBC marked the fifteenth CNBC-branded channel worldwide.[49] In July 2010, BT signed a five-year contract with CNBC Europe to distribute content from its London headquarters to sister sites in Europe and the US.[50]
In 2011, CNBC won an award at theInternational Broadcasting Convention for its CNBC 4D: Interactive motion tracking that allows CNBC presenters to interact with 3D graphics, using technology from Unreel, Brainstorm, Motion Analysis.[51] In June 2012, CNBC expanded its partnership with Yahoo! Finance in an effort to reach more online viewers. That month, CNBC.com had 6.5 million unique visitors in the United States while Yahoo! Finance had 37.5 million.[52]
In 2013, hostMaria Bartiromo left CNBC forFox Business in part because Fox offered her $5–6 million per year compared to the $4 million per year that she made at CNBC.[53][54][55][56] Also that year, CNBC took over production of the popular public television programNightly Business Report from NBR Worldwide, a subsidiary of Atalaya Global Management.[57]
The company publishes annual lists, including the CNBC Disruptor 50 since 2013[58] and the CNBC25 since 2014.[59]
On January 6, 2015, CNBC changed the way it calculates ratings, switching fromNielsen ratings to a system by Cogent Research to calculate the viewership of its business day programming by surveying financial advisers and investors, with the goal of providing a more accurate measurement of the network's out-of-home viewership; Nielsen is still used to track the viewership of its entertainment programming.[60]
In September 2021, CNBC signed a new multi-platform deal withJim Cramer; in addition to his existing television roles, the agreement includes the co-development of live events and digital content through his company Cramer Media (replacing his previous arrangement withTheStreet, which Cramer had co-founded, and sold to The Arena Group in 2019), including a direct-to-consumer subscription service.[69] In January 2022, the subscription service launched as the "CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer", which includes commentaries, stock picks, and monthly online meetings. The service operates alongside another CNBC subscription service, "CNBC Pro", which similarly provides exclusive content andover-the-top streaming of CNBC's networks.[70][71]
In August 2022, Mark Hoffman stepped down as president of CNBC after 17 years at the network, being succeeded by NBCUniversal president of global advertising and partnerships KC Sullivan. Under Sullivan, the network began to refocus its programming to broaden appeal to its core business audience, including a promise of more business-related documentaries in primetime,[72][73] and cancelling the low-ratedThe News with Shepard Smith in November 2022 in favor of the new financial news programLast Call withBrian Sullivan, which premiered in January 2023,[74][75] and ran until July 18, 2024.[76]
On December 11, 2023, CNBC underwent a major rebranding, updating its logo for the first time since 1996 (adopting the updatedNBC peacock and corporate typeface introduced a year prior),[77] and revamping its on-air graphics with a simplerflat design. The two-tiered stock ticker CNBC had historically used was replaced with a single scroll, with major indices now displayed in a strip below the stock ticker.[75]
In March 2024, CNBC announced plans to add its personal finance brand “Make It” to weekend programming.[78] Make It offers personal finance tips, career guidance, and other forms of advice-based content to consumers.[79] According to CNBC, Make It-branded content (which launched in 2016) forms CNBC.com’s largest vertical.[80]
In November 2024, a Brazilian affiliate known asTimes Brasil launched as CNBC's first local franchise in South America. It was founded by Douglas Tavolaro, who had originally foundedCNN Brasil.[83][84][85]
On November 20, 2024, NBCUniversal announced its intent to spin off most of its cable networks, including CNBC, as a new publicly-traded company controlled by Comcast shareholders. It is currently unclear how the spin-off will affect CNBC, including whether it will still be able to use NBC News resources or the NBC brand. CNBC had largely operated autonomously from NBC News untilCesar Conde became head of theNBCUniversal News Group in 2020, after which the network began to engage in some resource sharing with the division.[86][87][88]
CNBC has a licensing partnership withParadies Lagardère to operate retail locations inUnited States airports branded as CNBC News, CNBC Express, and CNBC SmartShop. The stores sell CNBC-branded merchandise as well as snacks and drinks.[89]
The CNBC stores first launched in 2001, when the company announced plans to open as many as 100 airport shops in the United States.[90] As of 2024, CNBC airport stores continue to expand, with aPensacola International Airport location unveiled in Florida that November.[91]
CNBC has been criticized for allegedly amplifyingbull andbear markets, particularly in the run-up to thedot-com bubble and thesubprime mortgage crisis a decade later.[28][92][93] In response to these criticisms, CNBC anchors have pointed to the size of the market and noted that influencing it is "a little out of our reach".[92]
Jon Stewart onComedy Central'sThe Daily Show has been a vocal critic of CNBC and some of its personalities, beginning after comments were made byRick Santelli.[94][95] Despite the lack of direct comments by the network, several personalities have defended their predictions and comments.[96][97]
CNBC was accused by theObama administration of "cable chatter"—the excessive and sometimes brutal discussion on a particular topic, often one-sided.[98][99]
Regarding CNBC'sMad Money hostJim Cramer, a 2007 article inBarron's stated that "his picks haven't beaten the market. Over the past two years, viewers holding Cramer's stocks would be up 12%, while the Dow rose 22% and the S&P 500 16%."[100]
On October 13, 2014, coincidentally the 11th anniversary of CNBC's relocation to its current facilities in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, CNBC switched to a full 16:9 letterbox presentation, in line withCNBC Asia andCNBC Europe.[102]
Business Nation, anchored by award-winning journalistDavid Faber. Each edition of the program covers three stories; a mixture of profiles, investigative pieces and features. The format of the show is structured similarly toHBO'sReal Sports.[104]
CNBC occasionally serves as anoutlet forNBC Sports programming, and essentially acts as an overflow feed whenUSA Network is broadcasting sports events. Mainly, this has occurred on weekends, especially the afternoon, and sports coverage is purposefully kept away from any part of the Americantrading day on weekdays.
Generally, during weekdays CNBC airs coverage from 5-8PM ET, following business coverage. During weekends, CNBC carries much more extensive sports coverage.
In 2001, CNBC began a four-year deal to televise events from theSenior PGA Tour, either live or tape delayed, with early-round coverage broadcast on cable feeds ofPax. CNBC president Bill Bolster stated that the decision was meant to help reduce CNBC's reliance on paid programming on weekends. PGA Tour commissionerTim Finchem also felt that golf and business audiences were "extremely compatible" with each other.[123]
In 2016 and 2017, CNBC airedIndyCar races from Mid-Ohio. In 2017, CNBC also aired the IndyCar race from Toronto.[131]
In 2024, due to inclement weather causing the USA Today 301 to go under a red flag, CNBC aired the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterrey. Also, due to coverage of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, CNBC aired the first Iowa Speedway race of the doubleheader weekend.
In 2016, CNBC broadcast severalNASCAR races (as part of theNASCAR on NBC package) due to scheduling conflicts with other NBCUniversal channels during the2016 Summer Olympics.[133]
In 2020, the2020 YellaWood 500 was bumped to CNBC after the race ran long and it interfered with other programming
On August 28, 2022, due to a rain out the previous night, CNBC aired the2022 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at 10AM ET. The race was originally intended to be shown on NBC in primetime.
During theNBA Finals, additional coverage would be immediately available on CNBC, in which the panelists provided an additional half-hour of in-depth game discussions, after the NBC broadcast network's coverage concluded.
Beginning in the 2005–06 season, CNBC showed coverage of theNBA playoffs, produced as part of the NBA on NBC package.
During NBC's coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics, CNBC simulcasted coverage of the Olympics Triplecast as a whip around format with no audio.
Beginning in2000, CNBC has carried portions of NBC'scoverage of theOlympic Games outside of business day hours. The frequent delegation ofcurling coverage to CNBC during the2010 Winter Olympics helped the sport gain a cult following among the business community.[123][136]
Generally, during weekdays CNBC airs coverage from 5-8PM ET, following business coverage. During weekends, CNBC carries much more extensive Olympic coverage.
CNBC's2000 Summer Olympics coverage focused heavily on boxing. Combined withMSNBC, the networks carried 176 original hours of Olympic programming.[137]
CNBC carried 111 hours of Olympic programming during the2004 Summer Olympics. While CNBC continued its focus on Boxing on weekdays, during weekends CNBC also featured coverage of beach volleyball, soccer and taekwondo.[138]
CNBC carried 95.5 hours of Olympic coverage during the2008 Summer Olympics. CNBC focused on Boxing during the prime time 5-8PM ET slot, but also carried softball, tennis, weightlifting, wrestling and badminton during the overnight hours.[139]
CNBC carried 42 hours of Olympic coverage during the2016 Summer Olympics. Coverage focused on basketball, volleyball, archery, cycling, rugby, water polo and wrestling.[141]
CNBC carried 124.5 hours of Olympic coverage during the2020 Summer Olympics. Coverage focused on diving, beach volleyball, skateboarding, rowing, canoeing, archery, water polo and rugby.[142]
CNBC used the same format as the 2000 Summer Olympics for the2002 Winter Olympics, however instead of focusing on Boxing, the network focused on Hockey. CNBC and MSNBC combined for 207 hours of programming.[143]
CNBC carried 100.5 hours of Olympic coverage during the2010 Winter Olympics. CNBC mainly focused on curling, but also carried coverage of Ice Hockey and biathlon.[145]
In 2023, during the first quarter of a game between theNew Orleans Breakers and theMemphis Showboats, lightning strikes in the Memphis area forced a weather delay which lasted 3 hours. Due to local and primetime programming coming up on NBC, NBC and the USFL announced that the game would resume on CNBC.[153]
Nightly Business Report, a 30-minute weeknight business newscast hosted bySue Herera andBill Griffeth and distributed to U.S.public television stations. Launched in 1979, CNBC assumed production of the series in 2013 and ended production in December 2019.
On the Money - originally launched in 1970 as The Wall Street Journal Report, ended production in December 2019
