By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Fox News Media said on Thursday it was parting ways with its longtime business anchor Maria Bartiromo after more than a decade with the company.
The company gave no specific reason for her departure, which it said was effective immediately. A Fox News spokesperson described the move as a “business decision.”
“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12-1/2 years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” Fox News Media said in a statement.
Bartiromo was last on the air on August 9. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bartiromo was host of a daily morning show, “Mornings with Maria,” on Fox Business, as well as a Friday evening show, “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” and a Sunday morning program, “Sunday Morning Futures.”
She secured one of the first media interviews with U.S. President Donald Trump after he left the White House in 2021.
Her sudden exit follows Karoline Leavitt’s departure from the White House press secretary role last month, although Vice President JD Vance, asked on Thursday whether Bartiromo would be the next press secretary, told reporters: “No, I don’t think so.”
“I just saw the news literally as I walked out,” Vance said in the White House briefing room. “I love Maria. I think she’s an amazing person, amazing talent. I don’t get involved in the personal drama of media stations.”
Bartiromo joined Fox News in 2013 after two decades at rival CNBC, where she became the first journalist to report live daily from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
She was among Fox hosts named in defamation litigation over the network’s airing of false claims that voting technology companies helped to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Democrat Joe Biden won.
Fox agreed in 2023 to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle one of the lawsuits, while Smartmatic’s separate case against the network is still pending.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Additional reporting by Helen Coster and Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Donna Bryson)
