CNBC
U.S. business-news cable channel founded in 1989; after buying the Financial News Network in 1991 it became the industry leader, and in January 2026 it spun out of Comcast into the independent company Versant — keeping its name, getting a new logo — while dueling Fox Business Network for ratings.
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- Country
- United States
- Known as
- CNBC (originally the "Consumer News and Business Channel")
- Launched
- April 17, 1989
- Owner
- Versant Media Group (Nasdaq: VSNT) since January 2026; formerly Comcast via NBCUniversal
- Programming
- Business and financial news, market coverage and personal-finance programming
- Streaming service
- CNBC+ (launched 2025), plus CNBC Pro and Investing Club tiers
- Ratings snapshot
- Averaged 229,000 total viewers on business day in April 2026, behind Fox Business Network's 254,000, but led the adults 25-54 demo in every daypart
In January 2026, CNBC did something most reference pages still haven’t caught up with: it stopped being a Comcast company. The business-news network spun out into Versant, a new publicly traded company that began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker VSNT after a 1-for-25 share distribution completed on January 2, 2026, with December 16, 2025 as the record date. (Morningstar) An internal memo reported by Talking Biz News said CNBC would keep its name under the new company while getting a new logo described as “a look back at its history,” under incoming Versant CEO Mark Lazarus. (Talking Biz News) Every top search result still calls it an NBCUniversal/Comcast unit — that description is now out of date.
The separation had been in the works since November 2024, when Comcast announced it would spin off the bulk of its NBCUniversal cable networks — MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel — into the new company, a business of roughly $7 billion in annual revenue, in a tax-free deal expected to take about a year, with Lazarus as CEO and Anand Kini as chief operating and financial officer. (SRN News) Under the completed Versant, CNBC sits alongside USA, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass and SportsEngine. (Morningstar) The MSNBC that went into the deal had already been renamed MS NOW in 2025.
How CNBC got here
CNBC launched on April 17, 1989, as a joint venture between NBC and Cablevision, its initials short for “Consumer News and Business Channel.” (Talking Biz News) Two years later NBC acquired the rival Financial News Network for $154 million — beating a competing Westinghouse–Dow Jones bid — and folded FNN’s staff into CNBC, including future fixtures Bill Griffeth, Ron Insana, Joe Kernen and Sue Herera. (Talking Biz News) David Faber, Mark Haines and Maria Bartiromo (in 1995) joined later. (Talking Biz News)
The early years were not the dominance the brand suggests today. In a first-person anniversary account, longtime correspondent Bob Pisani recalled that the network “had no ratings” for its first five years and only took off in 1995–96, when surging market trading volume finally gave business television an audience. (Talking Biz News)
The ratings duel
CNBC’s standing is measured against one rival: Fox Business Network. The scorecard as of April 2026 was a genuine split verdict. Fox Business won the business day (Monday–Friday, 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m. ET) with 254,000 total viewers against CNBC’s 229,000 — its 12th straight monthly business-day win. (Barrett Media) But CNBC swept the adults 25–54 demographic in every daypart, drawing 58,000 demo viewers to Fox Business’s 12,000 in business day. (Barrett Media)
At the program level, CNBC’s top draw that month was Fast Money Halftime Report with 277,000 viewers, while Fox Business’s Varney & Co. (313,000) and Kudlow (292,000) led individual business programs. (Barrett Media) In other words: Fox Business wins the headcount, CNBC wins the advertiser demo — and neither network’s press operation phrases it that way.
CNBC+ and the streaming push
At the start of 2025, CNBC announced a paid streaming service, CNBC+, in an email to subscribers, with a launch planned for the first quarter of 2025, per iDownloadBlog’s report. (iDownloadBlog) The entry tier was priced at $15 a month and included a global livestream (U.S., U.K. and Asia), on-demand programming, market data, watchlists and charting tools; above it sat CNBC Pro at $35 a month or $300 a year, the Investing Club at $50 a month or $400 a year, and an All Access tier at $600 a year that included Jim Cramer’s investing club. (iDownloadBlog) Notably, the service launched with no free trial. (iDownloadBlog)
A general-news experiment, tried and dropped
In 2022 CNBC briefly tried to be more than a markets channel. Shomari Stone joined that April as a general-assignment reporter for The News with Shepard Smith, working out of the network’s Washington, D.C. bureau starting April 4 — a hire the newscast’s senior executive producer Dan Colarusso called evidence the show was “building a top-notch team of journalists.” (Adweek) Smith, who had left Fox News in 2019, anchored the 7 p.m. ET weeknight newscast. (WTMJ)
It lasted two years. In November 2022 CNBC canceled the newscast after it averaged just 222,000 viewers that year, with president KC Sullivan — who had replaced Mark Hoffman that September — saying the network would refocus on business news. (WTMJ) The experiment’s end marked the network’s return to its core: business, all day.
What this profile does not claim
- It does not claim CNBC is still owned by Comcast or NBCUniversal — the January 2026 Versant spinoff moved it out, which is precisely the gap this profile leads with.
- It does not give CNBC’s current president under Versant; KC Sullivan’s title is dated to the 2022 newscast cancellation, the last fully-read source to name a network president.
- It does not state historical carriage or subscriber figures; none of the fully-read sources provide them.
- It does not treat the 2024 ratings comparison as a current verdict — the April 2026 figures are the latest fully verified, and the split (total viewers vs. demo) is stated explicitly rather than letting either network’s framing stand.
- It does not date Comcast’s spinoff announcement to the SRN News page’s displayed dateline (2026-11-20); the underlying announcement is from November 2024, as disclosed in the research brief.
Timeline
- 1989
- CNBC launches on April 17 as a joint venture between NBC and Cablevision, its name short for "Consumer News and Business Channel."
- 1991
- NBC buys the rival Financial News Network for $154 million, beating a Westinghouse-Dow Jones bid, and folds FNN's people — Bill Griffeth, Ron Insana, Joe Kernen and Sue Herera — into CNBC.
- 2022
- Correspondent Shomari Stone joins as a general-assignment reporter for The News with Shepard Smith in the Washington, D.C. bureau; months later CNBC cancels the nightly newscast after two years.
- 2024
- Comcast announces it will spin off the bulk of its NBCUniversal cable networks, including CNBC, into a new publicly traded company.
- 2025
- CNBC+ launches as a paid streaming service with livestreams, market data and watchlists, in four pricing tiers.
- 2026
- The Versant spinoff completes in January; CNBC keeps its name and gets a new logo under the new company. In April, Fox Business Network beats it in total business-day viewers for a 12th straight month while CNBC wins the 25-54 demo.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- The Talking Biz News "retain name / new logo" memo piece does not display an explicit article dateline on the page; it is dated by content as post-spinoff, 2026.
- The SRN News page of the Reuters spinoff report carried a 2026-11-20 dateline, but the report covers Comcast's original November 2024 announcement; the profile dates the announcement accordingly.
- CNBC's current president under Versant is not confirmed by a fully-read source; KC Sullivan was president at the time of the 2022 newscast cancellation.
- Historical carriage and distribution figures beyond the 2026 ratings comparison are not addressed by the fully-read sources and are not claimed.
Sources
8 sources (2 tier 1, 4 tier 2, 1 tier 3, 1 first-party), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Statements the subject makes about itself are marked as such and are not treated as independent evidence. See the source policy.
This profile rests on reporting read in full, not reference summaries. The ownership change comes from the original Reuters spinoff report (via SRN News) and Versant's own completion announcement (via Morningstar/Business Wire), with the name-and-logo memo detail from a Talking Biz News memo piece; early history from a first-person 25th-anniversary account; the Shepard Smith cancellation from an Associated Press report; April 2026 ratings from Barrett Media; streaming details from iDownloadBlog. Wikipedia was used only as a lead index and is not cited.
- Supports: Comcast's spinoff announcement covering MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel; roughly $7B annual revenue; tax-free structure; about a year to complete; Mark Lazarus as CEO and Anand Kini as COO/CFO. Open original source
- Supports: The News with Shepard Smith canceled after two years; president KC Sullivan (replaced Mark Hoffman September 2022) refocusing on business news; show averaged 222,000 viewers in 2022; Smith left Fox News in 2019; 7 p.m. ET weeknights. Open original source
- Supports: Versant memo reporting: CNBC keeps its name and is building a new logo ("a look back at its history"); Versant spun off from Comcast's NBCUniversal; Mark Lazarus as incoming CEO; 1989 founding as an NBC-Cablevision joint venture ("Consumer News and Business Channel"); 1991 FNN acquisition and merger. Open original source
- Supports: Launch April 17, 1989; FNN bought May 1991 for $154 million against a Westinghouse-Dow Jones consortium; Griffeth, Insana, Kernen and Herera came from FNN; David Faber, Mark Haines and Maria Bartiromo (1995) joined later; no ratings the first five years, takeoff in 1995-96 with market volume. Open original source
- Supports: Stone joins CNBC as general-assignment reporter for The News with Shepard Smith, Washington, D.C. bureau, starting April 4, 2022; Dan Colarusso senior executive producer quote. Open original source
- Supports: April 2026 ratings: Fox Business Network 254,000 vs CNBC 229,000 total viewers in business day (12th straight monthly FBN win); CNBC wins adults 25-54 in every daypart (58,000 vs 12,000 in business day); Fast Money Halftime Report top CNBC show at 277,000; Varney & Co. 313,000, Kudlow 292,000. Open original source
- Supports: CNBC+ announced via email at the start of 2025, launching Q1 2025: $15/mo entry tier (global livestream US/UK/Asia, on-demand, market data, watchlists, charting); Pro $35/mo or $300/yr; Investing Club $50/mo or $400/yr; All Access $600/yr (includes Cramer investing club); no free trial. Open original source
- Versant Begins Trading on Nasdaq Today as Independent Company Following Completion of Comcast Spin-Off First-partySupports: Completed spinoff: Versant (Nasdaq: VSNT) began trading; brand roster including CNBC, MS NOW, USA, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass and SportsEngine; 1-for-25 share distribution; record date December 16, 2025; distribution completed January 2, 2026. Open original source
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