NY Observer > CNBC

Broke As A Peacock!

Felix Gillette — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:45:06 -0500

In recent months, bad news in the financial world has translated into big news for CNBC, and big news is good news for a 24-hour cable news network. With national interest in financial news at a fever pitch, the business news network has been posting its highest ratings in its 19-year history.

And now, owner GE is rewarding them with … budget cuts!

Bosses at CNBC, The Observer has learned, are now preparing to scale back budgets. Sources inside CNBC have heard that the figure could approach a 10 percent overall budget cut.

“We’re committed to having the best team in business news worldwide,” said CNBC spokesman Kevin Goldman. read more »

Fox Business Network Targets CNBC's Jim Cramer in Financial Crisis Ads

Felix Gillette — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:41:02 -0400

According to recent articles, the Fox Business Network (FBN) still lags far, far behind its competitors at CNBC in terms of the size of its audience.

But amid the current financial panic, FBN is hoping to win over some viewers by running a political-style attack-ad knocking the record of CNBC's Jim Cramer.

"Financially, these are crazy times," warns a scary voiceover in the ads. "The last thing you need is bad advice. The last thing you need is CNBC's Jim Cramer."

CNBC's David Faber to Write Book About Credit Crisis; Hoping to Publish Before Year's End

Leon Neyfakh — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:11:55 -0400

Any Penguin editors out there still need a book about the Wall Street crisis? Because Media Mob has learned of another one going on the market soon, this time from CNBC's David Faber. The book will be published before the end of the year, according to someone with firsthand knowledge of the project, a feat possible only because Mr. Faber has been working on a documentary for CNBC about the origins of the credit crisis and thus has all of his reporting—something like a hundred hours of interviews total, we're told—already in the can.

Literary agent Scott Waxman will shop Mr. Faber's book to publishers. read more »

CNBC Star Charles Gasparino's Wall Street Crisis Book Was Conceived and Sold Before Bear Stearns Collapsed, Not After

Leon Neyfakh — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:11:28 -0400

At the end of Pub Crawl this morning we offered a short (and incomplete) list of books that financial reporters were either working on or done with that are likely to be affected by what happened on Wall Street last week. Among them was The Sellout, by CNBC scoop artist Charles Gasparino, which is described by its publisher, Collins Business, as a chronicle of "how the leaders of numerous major U.S. banks—including Bear Stearns' Jimmy Cayne—caused their firms to lose billions of dollars" by dealing recklessly with subprime mortgages."

Collins announced Mr. Gasparino's book through a posting on the Publishers Lunch deal wire just over a week after the collapse of Bear Stearns. read more »

Big Day in Englewood Cliffs

Meredith Bryan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:04:09 -0400

On the evening of Sept. 16, Brian Williams was jetting out of the CNBC studios in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., when he stopped to talk to a reporter about his extraordinary day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had plummeted 504.48 points in the most precipitous loss since September of 2001, dogged by news of Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch’s hasty weekend sale to Bank of America, and A.I.G.’s still-uncertain future.

And Mr. Williams had broadcast his Nightly News program from a studio at NBC’s 24-hour cable business news channel.

“I don’t want to sound self-centered, but it was very important to me. read more »

Zell of a Pitch: 'We're Gonna Give it to 'Em'

Matt Haber — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:40:27 -0400

This morning on CNBC's Squawk Box, Carl Quintanilla interviewed Tribune owner Sam Zell about everything from the housing market to the elections to the Chicago Cubs. (This comes via Jim Romenesko.)

When the subject turned to the advertising market, Mr. Zell asked, "What ad market?" Mr. Quintanilla clarified that he meant newspaper advertisers, which prompted the outspoken Mr. Zell to bark, "I'm trying to find one of 'em!"

Here's how Mr. Zell described his newspaper business:

I think the case of Tribune, really, or newspapers in general basically comes down to producing a newspaper that the customer is willing to pay for. read more »

CNBC: We Covered McDonald's Before FBN

Felix Gillette — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:29:00 -0500

In response to our post yesterday about Fox Business Network's three-part interview this week with Joe Skinner, McDonald's Vice Chairman and CEO, CNBC sent us a note suggesting that their upstart rivals are somewhat late to the McDonald's game.

To wit: earlier this year, CNBC produced an original primetime special called Big Mac: Inside the McDonald’s Empire, which premiered on July 25, 2007, and was CNBC's best ever documentary premiere in both total viewers and adults 25-54. read more »

Dem Debate vs. Steroid News

Felix Gillette — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:48:20 -0500

At 2 pm today, cable news networks face a difficult decision: do you cover George Mitchell's blockbuster news conference on steriod abuse is baseball? Or do you cover the Iowa Democratic debate? read more »

David Pogue To Contribute to CNBC Daytime

Felix Gillette — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:20:56 -0500

CNBC announced this morning that David Pogue, the personal technology columnist for The New York Times, is joining the channel part-time as a contributor to Business Day programming, where he will be regularly sizing up new gadgets and trends in the tech world.

"David is a well-known and respected expert in his field, produces highly entertaining and informative videos, and we are excited he is joining the CNBC team," Jonathan Wald, Senior Vice President for Business News, said in today's release. "We always strive to stay on the pulse of innovation and David will add a new element to the network’s coverage." read more »

CNBC Leaked WSJ's Estee Lauder Scoop

John Koblin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:08:40 -0500

For a little over a month, The Wall Street Journal has been in a quiet feud with the cable business channel CNBC—and it’s not because the Journal’s parent company is about to get a new stepdad in News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch.

In early November, the fashion house Estée Lauder offered the Journal and Women’s Wear Daily an advance tip that the lagging company’s chief executive, William Lauder, planned to relinquish his title within two years, under pressure from investors. read more »