CNBC Inc.

It soon became clear that riling up competitor CNBC was a minor, albeit festive indulgence in the Fox Business Network workday. "Big Government" is the common enemy here, and they'll talk about it all day long.  read more »

Despite her salacious scandal earlier this year, CNBC’s top anchor, Maria (the “Money Ho  read more »

Last winter, my best friend Kate Bohner and I decided to do things backward and rent a house in the  read more »

Last winter, my best friend Kate Bohner and I decided to do things backward and rent a house in the  read more »

Click for the Family

After receiving a brand new copy of New York's brand new Haute Living magazine, we spoke with publisher/owner Seth Semilof.

"There's no fluff in this," he said about the $7-an-issue magazine. Does he think most other real estate writing is fluffy? "It's a waste of time. It's basically editorial for advertisers. But when we write about the Zeckendorfs we really sit down with them," he said.

Indeed. The premiere issue profiles mega families like the Zecks, Tamir Sapir's spawn, and the Trumps.

Donald, the parent of the year, says of his clan: "They're terrific kids. And they have a great relationship with each other. I think I would be disappointed if they didn't." Strangely, son Eric was left off the cover shot.

Another highlight is a profile of Donny Deutsch: "Not only is he sexy, charming, brilliant and successful, he now is famous for his show on CNBC".

How does Mr. Semilof feel about the wider industry? "Print media is starting to become ineffective because most of it is garbage. But [Haute Living] is talking about the real meat and potatoes. New York, which is the number one market in the world, has never had anything like this."

He said his writers include "The Post's Dakota Smith, the Financial Times' head writer Julie Earle, and someone from The Times, but I can't divulge her name yet."

So stay tuned. And click here to read the magazine online, or click here for our earlier coverage.

- Max Abelson Note: The Observer's haute Michael Calderone has contributed to HL.  read more »

Larry King likes his hair

Donald Trump is always good for very long-winded sound bites, but nothing beats today's CNBC interview on Stuy Town.

"WELL, THEY JUST SENT ME THEIR WONDERFUL BROKERS AND SENT ME THE LISTING A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO AND I WILL NOT BE BIDDING. IT WILL BE A HEATED BID AND THAT USUALLY MEANS SOMEBODY WILL OVERPAY, I LIKE TO BUY THINGS WHEN PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT THEM NOT WHEN THE WORLD KNOWS ABOUT THEM AND AT 4 OR $5 BILLION I DON'T SEE IT AS AN INVESTMENT AND IT IS WONDERFUL AND I HOPE SOMEBODY DOES WELL. AND WILL BE WELL SOLD AND I'M SURE THERE WILL BE A LOT OF COMPETITION BUT BASED ON THE COMPETITION, I DON'T WANT TO BID. I DON'T THINK I'LL BE BIDDING."

Mr. T doesn't want to bid? Maybe it's better that way. (Or maybe he doesn't have the dough?) The full release and transcript are after the jump.  read more »

- Max Abelson

God preserve us from the British upper classes!  read more »

The Daily News reports on Eliot Spitzer's close relationship with CNBC's James Cramer; and David Yassky is scrutinized for developer donations.

The Post writes that Al Gore is worth enough to launch a presidential campaign, thanks to his ties to Google; and George Pataki and George Bush have low job approval ratings in New York, 30% and 24%, respectively.

Cory Booker will soon turn his attention to the Newark Police Department, reports the Times; and Tom Suozzi debates alone.

—Nicole Brydson

"In any case," wrote Eric Alterman on the Huffington Post yesterday, "I am about as low-level a celebrity as exists anywhere. And yet whenever [sic] see my name on P6, it's always something nasty and often something inaccurate."

Here are Eric Alterman's three Page Six mentions:  read more »

March 28, 2004: Fresh from a bizarre on-air showdown with CNBC talk-show host Dennis Miller, left-wing MSNBC pundit Eric Alterman has accused The New York Observer of doing a second "hatchet job" on him. [...] When we tried to contact Alterman for comment, he e-mailed us back: "I don't have a lot to say. I enjoy PAGE SIX but I don't admire it. I imagine most people feel that way." Mee-ouch!

March 12, 2003: The Week magazine held a forum on media bias featuring Janeane Garofalo, Arianna Huffington, Eric Alterman and William McGowan." [...] Jeff Jarvis: "hey, if you're going to get dissed by someone, it's much better to be dissed by Brown than Alterman."

August 6, 1999: We hear... That journalist/gadfly Philip Nobile overheard two clerks at the Strand bookstore complaining about Nation columnist Eric Alterman. 'He's a whiner,' said one. 'Yeah,' said the other. 'The first time I met him I almost punched him.'

One television network executive, contacted with urgency on Jan.  read more »

What’s odd about state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s alleged threat to former Goldman Sachs Co-Chairman John Whitehead (“You will pay dearly for what you have done”) is how it ever came into the public eye. Whitehead wrote an op-ed in April denouncing Spitzer’s public prosecution of A.I.G. chief Hank Greenberg. Then the alleged threatening phone conversation took place. Eight months later, after Spitzer conceded his case against Greenberg was too weak to warrant criminal charges, and once rival Democrat Tom Suozzi emerged as Wall Street’s candidate of choice in next year’s gubernatorial election, Whitehead tells all. The justification of going public, Whitehead writes, is that “there have been rumors in the media as to what happened next.”

These “rumors” appear to be a single question in a December 19 interview on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” in which Maria Bartiromo asked Greenberg to confirm rumors whether Spitzer called Whitehead to say that “basically, he was upset that he wrote the op-ed supporting you.” Greenberg said he had heard that also but wouldn’t elaborate.

But the Money Honey’s question was just as tame as earlier renditions of the phone call—so why did Whitehead speak now? The New York Times mentioned in a May 6 report that the Attorney General and Whitehead had a “frank discussion” after the column ran. And in an August 8 column in The New York Sun, Brian McGuire wrote that Spitzer “is said to have responded hotly." Spitzer’s spokesman was quoted as saying that his boss called Whitehead merely to ask where he had gotten his information.

Whitehead is now the chairman of both the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. The largest grant to the foundation announced so far--$25 million--came from the Starr Foundation, which Greenberg controls.  read more »

We have a call in to Whitehead's office in case he can elaborate. Meanwhile, The New York Post reports that Republicans have joined the pile-on against Spitzer.

-Matthew Schuerman

When I picked up Mark Caldwell’s New York Night, I was expecting a romp through Gotham’s  read more »

When I picked up Mark Caldwell’s New York Night, I was expecting a romp through Gotham’s fabled  read more »

As of this evening, CNBC is airing new "First on CNBC" commercials, touting the network's scoop this afternoon on the sentencing of WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers. But the spots are understating just how exclusive the breaking-news report was: CNBC's initial live bulletin announced that Ebbers had been sentenced to 30 years in prison--five years more than he actually got.

Federal judge Barbara Jones ruled the 30-year sentencing guideline "excessive" in Ebbers' case, giving him a 25-year hitch. CNBC came back a few minutes later to offer a corrected bulletin, which the network is now using in its promos.  read more »

By the time the corrected report went out, though, Reuters had already picked up the bad 30-year version of the story--attributing it to CNBC.

--Leon Neyfakh

WED.  read more »

At first glance, WakeupCall , CNBC's new morning show, seems like just another peppy  read more »

Whoever said that the mind-bending dream of day-trading your way to a honey-soaked land of Lexuses,  read more »

New York was weird, even surreal on March 20, as it turned from winter to spring right in the middle  read more »

Wednesday, Jan. 4It's starting to look a little ugly.  read more »

CNBC talking head Ron Insana wants to be taken seriously–as an author.  read more »

Ryan Jacob used to be famous.  read more »

(BLOOMBERG NEWS)-Few of us are immune to the allure of a bribe.  read more »

Back when Maria S.  read more »

"If my life and work experience has yielded anything," Geraldo Rivera said with characteristic humil  read more »

"If my life and work experience has yielded anything," Geraldo Rivera said with characteristic humil  read more »

He may never earn the trust of Tom Brokaw and his blue-chip buds at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.  read more »

Wednesday, August 5Patricia Fili-Krushel.  read more »

This year, like every other year, my husband and I observe the ides of April by going to the bank wh  read more »

The slide, or slump, or fall-sorry, correction -was amazing but not surprising.There is a predictabl  read more »

Last winter, my best friend Kate Bohner and I decided to do things backward and rent a house in the  read more »