Instead, the network will rotate the evening timeslot to its main product, business news and personal finance, after the end of the show. “Decisions like these are not made in haste or taken lightly,” CNBC President KC Sullivan said Thursday in a message to employees obtained by The Washington Post. “I think this move will ultimately help strengthen our brand and the value we provide to our audience.”
A network employee with knowledge of the situation said the decision was not a cost-cutting decision, although Smith earned a hefty salary as an evening news anchor.
Smith came to the network with a reputation as a go-between anchor, which he honed during a 23-year career at Fox News. He suddenly resigned from the network in late 2019, denying that his departure was precipitated by occasional clashes with his right-wing network colleagues.
He was recruited to Fox by longtime CNBC president Mark Hoffman, who left the network earlier this fall, Smith told the Post in a 2020 interview. cable news before deciding to join CNBC, where its newscast replaced reruns of “Shark Tank” when it premiered in September.
But Smith’s stature in the industry hasn’t generated big ratings for CNBC. Between June and September of this year, his show was the 52nd most-watched show on cable, averaging 206,000 viewers each night. Still, the network said the show doubled its viewership in the 7 p.m. slot, attracting a relatively affluent audience that advertisers appreciated.
“The quality journalism that Shep and his team delivered each weeknight was exemplary and did not escape us or our 7 p.m. audience,” Sullivan wrote. “At a time when misinformation and misinformation are rampant, The News has succeeded in providing the public with the clearest understanding of the facts.”
The network president said CNBC would seek to identify new opportunities for Smith’s approximately 20 staff members. A replacement show focusing on business news will launch in the 7 p.m. slot in early 2023. Smith could not immediately be reached for comment.