Fox News Media has parted ways with anchor Maria Bartiromo, a veteran news personality who is a central figure in two defamation cases against the company.
Fox News issued a terse statement Thursday saying she is no longer employed at its networks, effective immediately. She had not appeared on any Fox News Media programs since Aug. 9. A person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly called it “a business decision.”
“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” a Fox News representative said in a statement, which offered no other details on the reason for her exit. But Bartiromo has been a problematic figure for the network in recent years, despite being a favorite of Fox Corporation Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch.
Bartiromo had fallen out of favor at Fox News due to the legal headaches caused by statements made on her programs. But the breaking point may have been her sharing of internal company texts with the Trump White House, according to people familiar with the matter. When asked about the texts, a Fox News representative referred to the company’s statement.
Bartiromo, who was earning around $6 million a year, was anchor of the daily Fox Business Network program “Mornings with Maria,” which starting Friday will be called “Mornings with Fox Business.” Her weekend program “Sunday Morning Futures” will continue with fill-in hosts until a permanent replacement is named.
Bartiromo was one of the network’s staunchest believers in Trump’s false accusations of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden. The claims, many of them perpetuated on Bartiromo’s Sunday program, resulted in Fox News paying a $787.5-million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems, which sued the network for defamation.
Bartiromo is also named in a $2.7-billion defamation suit filed by voting equipment company Smartmatic. Smartmatic is arguing that Fox News’ airing of the false statements about voter fraud hurt the London-based company’s ability to expand its business in the U.S. Barring a settlement, the case is expected to go to trial.
Fox News recently had to issue an apology for comments made in May by Kevin O’Leary, the entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” personality, who said during an appearance on Bartiromo’s program that opponents of his Utah data center were being funded by the Chinese government. O’Leary walked back the claims in June, saying he had no evidence.
A group opposed to the data center, Alliance for a Better Utah, the political consulting firm Elevate Strategies, and several of their founders filed a defamation lawsuit in July against O’Leary and Fox News, alleging they were engaged in a smear campaign. The plaintiffs are asking for both compensatory and punitive damages.
Fox News Media said it publicly corrected the record on every program where O’Leary’s comments were made, and will “vigorously defend against this lawsuit.”
The lawsuit is likely to have been another nail in the coffin of Bartiromo’s Fox News career. The organization’s executives don’t like to react to public criticism of their personalities. But once they decide they have dealt with enough accumulated controversies, their actions tend to be swift and decisive, such as when they surprisingly pulled Tucker Carslon off the air in April 2023.
Bartiromo is a major cheerleader for Trump and her departure is likely to generate speculation that she is headed for a role at the White House. The administration is in the process of hiring a new press secretary to replace Karoline Leavitt.
But people familiar with the matter said Bartiromo’s ouster at Fox has nothing to do with any discussions related to the White House.
Bartiromo was a protege of the late Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes, who made her a star at CNBC when she became the first woman to report from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Ailes later recruited her to join Fox Business Network in 2013.
Bartiromo told The Times in 2019 that her pioneering work on CNBC — which earned her the moniker of “The Money Honey” — inspired women to go into finance. One fan, the late punk rocker Joey Ramone, wrote a song in her honor.
