I have been watching Maria Bartiromo for a very long time, which is kind of strange considering I couldn’t tell you what the people on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange actually do.

I remember Maria from way back when she was the young woman with the ponytail standing in the middle of that noisy trading floor, surrounded by men yelling and waving pieces of paper around. I didn’t understand what they were doing then, and I’m not entirely sure I understand it now, but Maria made me stop and listen.

Maybe part of that was because I was a young woman myself. There was something pretty cool about watching another young woman walk into that world and simply do the job. She wasn’t making speeches about girl power or demanding applause for breaking barriers. She was talking about stocks and markets and money, and somehow she made people like me pay attention.

Fox Corp is parting ways with Maria Bartiromo.

As her former booking producer, I can say she is the hardest-working journalist at the company.

Bartiromo has given everything to her 12 years of work at Fox Corp.

She worked six days a week and has a presence on their platforms… pic.twitter.com/oIvH8DvZfF

— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) September 3, 2026

For the record, Bartiromo started behind the scenes at CNN Business News before moving to CNBC in 1993. She became the first journalist to report live every day from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and spent 20 years at CNBC before moving to Fox Business in 2014.

That’s about as far into her résumé as I’m going because, again, stocks.

Of All The People, Fox?

Now Fox has shown Bartiromo the door after more than 12 years, and I am irritated.

There are already plenty of stories explaining what supposedly happened behind the scenes. The short version is that Bartiromo reportedly wanted to pursue a story involving China and the 2020 election. Fox executives didn’t want the story aired, and Bartiromo allegedly sent a screenshot of that internal guidance to White House officials. Fox reportedly considered that a fireable offense. Her executive producer was fired as well.

According to multiple sources familiar with what transpired, Bartiromo wanted to do a story on China and its involvement in election-related conspiracy claims during the 2020 presidential election, a sensitive subject for Fox given the network’s costly Dominion settlement and ongoing Smartmatic litigation. An executive with Fox Business reportedly sent producers a message making it clear that the story would not air.

That’s not all. Oliver Darcy at Status News reports that Bartiromo then shared the network’s internal guidance with senior White House officials after Fox bosses ordered staff not to pursue the story.

Bartiromo also allegedly took a screenshot of the message and sent it over to the White House. Fox leadership reportedly learned what she had done this when they received a phone call from administration officials; they apparently viewed the sharing of internal network communications as a fireable offense.

Dylan Byers at Puck News separately confirmed the new information, and reported that Fox pulled Bartiromo from the air after Aug. 9 before making her departure official on Thursday. – Red State

Maybe Fox had every right to fire her. Maybe Maria crossed a line she shouldn’t have crossed. I wasn’t in the room, I haven’t seen the communications, and I’m not going to pretend I know everything that happened just because somebody on X says they do.

I’m still irritated.

Because of all the people at Fox you could show the door, you pick Maria Bartiromo?

A tale of two Fox journalists.

Trump-hater Jennifer Griffin can air unnamed-source stories about U.S. ammo shortages in wartime, and the network shrugs.

Maria Bartiromo wants to cover China’s role in 2020. Fox kills the segment. She tells the White House the network blocked it.… pic.twitter.com/52gt5E95ba

— 🇺🇸Steve2A🇺🇸God🇺🇸Family🇺🇸Country🇺🇸 (@lakemonstercl1) September 4, 2026

Meanwhile, Sean Hannity remains firmly attached to his chair, repeating the same talking points he repeated the night before, and the night before that, while reminding us every few minutes that he is friends with Donald Trump.

Yes, Sean. We know. Everybody knows.

I used to watch Hannity regularly, but these days I can practically predict what he’s going to say before he says it. Maria, on the other hand, still asks questions I want answered and talks to people I actually want to hear from.

So naturally, Fox fires Maria. Makes perfect sense. Perhaps China is paying the salaries over at Fox.

Maria Will Be Fine

Whatever happened between Maria Bartiromo and Fox, I don’t think this is the end of her career unless she wants it to be.

She’s been doing this for more than 30 years. She knows everybody. She has interviewed presidents, world leaders, CEOs, and some of the biggest names in business and politics. More importantly, people know her.

Fox didn’t create Maria Bartiromo, and Fox doesn’t own the audience that has been watching her all these years.

So start a YouTube channel, Maria. Start a podcast. Start your own business-news operation. Find a camera and start talking.

Going independent isn’t some magic formula, and we’ve seen plenty of big cable-news personalities leave their networks only to discover that recreating that audience isn’t as easy as it looks. But if anybody has the experience and name recognition to give it a shot, Maria Bartiromo does.

Or hell, Maria, put in an application for White House press secretary. I hear there’s an opening.

All these years later, I’m still not much of a stock market person. I still couldn’t explain half of what was happening around that young woman with the ponytail on the trading floor.

But she made me listen then. And I’d continue to listen or watch Maria wherever she lands.

Feature Image: Maria Bartiromo/World Economic Forum/Flickr/Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic