Fox News bombshell as big-name anchor abruptly exits

Anchor Maria Bartiromo has left Fox News, the conservative news network announced Thursday.

The company announced the move Thursday in a press release headed "FOX NEWS MEDIA PARTS WAYS WITH MARIA BARTIROMO," carrying a New York dateline.

"We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter," Fox News Media said.

The press release covered both Fox cable channels, where Bartiromo anchored three programs, according to her network biography.

Fox's statement gave no reason for the exit, named no successor, and included no comment from Bartiromo.

Mornings with Maria, her weekday show, had aired its final broadcast that morning from 6 to 9 a.m. Eastern on Fox Business Network, the Tampa Free Press reported. The 6 a.m. slot becomes Mornings with FOX Business on Friday, with rotating anchors filling in.

Network executives said an updated weekday lineup for Fox Business would be announced in the coming weeks, the report said. Her Friday evening program, Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street, is being rebranded FBN's Wall Street this week, according to the report.

Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone will host Friday's broadcast from 7 to 7:30 p.m. Eastern, with guest anchors filling the role in the weeks after, the report said.

Former Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz will host Sunday Morning Futures at 10 a.m. Eastern this Sunday on Fox News Channel, according to the report. A permanent host for the Sunday program will be named later, the report said.

Bartiromo joined Fox Business Network in January 2014 as global markets editor, according to her network biography.

She was a one-time CNBC star who turned her success covering Wall Street into anchor jobs at both Fox channels, Variety reported.

She spent 20 years at CNBC before that, and in 1995 she became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on a daily basis, the biography says.

At Fox, she anchored Mornings with Maria, Sunday Morning Futures and, beginning in April 2017, the Friday investing program Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street. Her guests included President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to the biography.