Shepard Smith will depart CNBC after his show is canceled
Instead, the community will return the night slot to its core product, enterprise information and private finance, after the show ends. “Decisions like these are not rushed or taken lightly,” CNBC president KC Sullivan mentioned in a message to staff Thursday, obtained by the Washington Post. “I imagine this determination will finally assist strengthen our model and the worth we provide our viewers.
A community worker with data of the state of affairs mentioned the choice was not a cost-cutting transfer, though Smith earned a hefty wage as anchor of the night information.
Smith got here to the community with a fame as a middle-of-the-road anchor, which he constructed over a 23-year profession at Fox News Channel. He abruptly resigned from the community in late 2019, denying that his departure was brought on by occasional clashes with his right-wing community colleagues.
He was recruited from Fox by longtime CNBC president Mark Hoffman, who left the community earlier this fall, Smith advised The Post in a 2020 interview. Smith held discussions with different cable information networks earlier than determined to hitch CNBC, the place his newscast changed reruns of “Shark Tank” when it premiered that September.
But Smith’s standing within the business did not generate massive scores for CNBC. Between June and September of this yr, his show was the 52nd most watched on cable information, averaging 206,000 viewers every night time. Still, the community mentioned the show doubled its scores within the 7 p.m. hour, attracting a comparatively prosperous viewers that advertisers appreciated.
“The quality journalism Shep and his team delivered every weeknight was exemplary and not lost on us or our 7 p.m. audience,” Sullivan wrote. “At a time when disinformation and misinformation are rampant, The News succeeded in providing audiences with the clearest understanding of the facts.”
The community president mentioned CNBC will search to determine new alternatives for Smith’s roughly 20 employees members. A substitute show targeted on enterprise information will launch at 7 p.m. in early 2023. Smith couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
