Fox Business Network plans to replace Maria Bartiromo‘s single-anchor morning program with a new version of its “Big Money” roundtable, offering up a group of anchors who will now vie with for financial-news aficionados against CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
The Fox Corp.-backed outlet said it will launch “Big Money in the Mornings,” hosted by Dagen McDowell, Brian Brenberg and Taylor Riggs, along with Josh Schafer from Barron’s. McDowell and Brenberg will end their evening program, “The Bottom Line,” which will be replaced by encore episodes of Larry Kudlow’s program at 6 p.m.
Fox Business has been without a regular early-morning anchor since August, when Bartiromo was removed from her program following what is believed to be the divulging of company information to outside parties. She was one of the best-known — and vociferous — peronsalities in the Fox News Media stable. She anchored hours and hours of markets and business coverage on Fox Business Network, both on her early-morning program “Mornings With Maria” as well as the Friday program “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street.”
Liz Claman will launch a new Friday-night program, “Claman’s Power Players,” that will launch at 7 p.m. eastern. Meanwhile, Fox Business will expand the roster of rotating hosts at the noon edition of “The Big Money Show,” with Cheryl Casone, Marcus Lemonis, and Lou Basenese working alongside current host Jackie DeAngelis.
The new “Big Money” morning program puts more of Fox Business’ top personalites on air during market hours, which is when more people watch, says Jay Wallace, president and executive editor of Fox News Media, during a recent interview, and executives believe the show will “flow nicely” into Stuart Varney’s program, which follows. He also believes the news program will have a podcast-like feel that will prove appealing.”
Roundtable programs have been among the most successful at Fox News Media, which counts the late-afternoon staple “The Five” as its most-watched program, and also relies on other multi-personality shows such as “Outnumbered.” Even the 10 p.m. program “Gutfeld” relies on a bevy of other personalities, including Kat Timpf.
Fox Business said the new “Big Money” morning program will feature “a mix of breaking business news, debate and analysis.” McDowell has been with Fox News since 2003 and was a founding anchor of Fox Business when it launched in 2007. Brenberg joined FBN in 2020 and has co-hosted “The Big Money Show” and “The Bottom Line.” He previously served as an associate professor and chair of the program in business and finance at The King’s College in New York City.