An interview with CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo

by Robert McGarvey

They call her the "Money Honey." It's not a name broadcaster Maria Bartiromo is fond of, but nowadays, she can let her lengthening list of glittering credits silence the snickers.

She hosts CNBC’s The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo, as well as Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo—and, in print journalism, she contributes columns to Business Week and Reader’s Digest.

When the investing public wants an insider’s scoop on Wall Street, Bartiromo is frequently the go-to source. The key question: How did the daughter of a Brooklyn restaurateur become the first person, male or female, to report live on television from the New York Stock Exchange? And how did the 39-year-old Bartiromo muscle her way to the top of a business that traditionally had always been male?

Read on for her answers in a wide-ranging interview, where she also shares tips on how to travel smart and dives into a discussion of the scandal where critics say she reported off-the-record comments on interest rates by Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke. But the jumping-off point for our talk was more rock ’n’ roll than business: How did Bartiromo get hooked up with the Ramones, the punk rockers best known for hits like “Cretin Hop” and “Teenage Lobotomy”?

The one question that demands to be asked is, What is it like to have a Ramones song written about you? (“Maria Bartiromo,” a single by lead singer Joey Ramone on his posthumously released 2002 album Don’t Worry About Me.)

It feels great. Joey Ramone was the coolest guy and, you know, most people don’t know this, but he was an avid investor. He used to call me up, email me and ask me detailed questions about his portfolio!

Your initial notoriety stems from 1995, when you became the first television reporter to broadcast live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. How did you get permission?

We were trying to start a new show on CNBC called Squawk Box [covering breaking financial news], and we
wanted to come up with a way to make it different. We decided to ask Dick Grasso [former CEO of the NYSE] if we could take a camera into the middle of the floor and be in the action. He decided that this would help demystify the Exchange and help the public better understand how the Exchange works. So, we went down to the floor, and what we were doing was completely new. How did people react at first? I used to work at CNN [before moving to CNBC], and I remember getting calls from friends at CNN, “Maria, you look ridiculous, everybody is bumping into you, it’s chaotic.” But I loved it! I was in the middle of everything. Sure, people bumped into me while we were broadcasting, but it really can get chaotic on the floor. Meanwhile, our show had become a big hit, and a year later, CNN called the NYSE and asked to bring a camera on the floor.

Thinking back, how did you get involved in financial news?

I was studying economics at NYU—I always had a knack for that subject—and my mother said to me, “Why don’t you try journalism? You’d be good at it.” That was my junior year. I took some classes and loved it. I switched my major to journalism, and then I became an intern at CNN, working for free. Pretty soon I was graduating and I thought, uh-ho, I don’t have a job! CNN told me I could stay through the summer, but they still wouldn’t pay me. I was working in general news, then entertainment, and I liked it—but it wasn’t my passion. Finally, in September, they said, “Go down to Business News. There might be a job for you.” I took a test and they hired me on the spot, because they were just getting their business news division up and running. It was an exciting time, because financial news on TV was still in its infancy.

But why finance in the first place? What turned you on about money?

My father planted the seed when I was very young. I remember going with him on Mondays to his restaurant and he’d do the books. I’d watch him with the calculator. And there was also my mother, the saver, who would open Christmas Club accounts for me. She planted a seed about investing wisely.

Reading your book, Use The News (Harper Collins, 2001), [I noticed that] you are up very early to monitor the
market opening, then you work into the early evening. How do you handle work/life balance?

I’m definitely busy, I love it that way. I have to admit, I haven’t necessarily figured out the work/life balance. I’m
still working on it.

What do you do for fun?

I love hiking. I do it in Arizona, around Tucson. A few times a year, I’ll stay at Canyon Ranch [one of the country’s top-rated spas] and go hiking in the mountains every day. I’ll do 8- to 10-mile hikes. It’s liberating. I’ll bring my lunch in a knapsack. When I get back to Canyon Ranch, I feel so accomplished. It’s a fantastic, rigorous workout. Oh, and I also like music. I love live music.

When you’re on a personal trip, like to Canyon Ranch, do you typically keep work somewhat integrated or just get away from it all?

Rarely am I not working. I just slow it down when I am on personal time. The last week of 2006, I went to Arizona hiking with my husband, but I still had a Business Week column due, so I interviewed someone early in the trip over the phone, typed it up and sent it to the magazine. I am always communicating with my assistant and always reachable. I compartmentalize work, but I am rarely ever turned off 100 percent.

Did you ever see the Ramones live at CBGB, the legendary Lower East Side music hall much favored by punk acts?

Joey invited me down there to see him perform the song live. I said, “What time should I meet you?” I remember he said he’d probably go on stage around midnight. I said, “Oh, I cannot be there. I have to be up at 5 a.m.”

How much do you travel?

A lot. I just got back from China, I’m going to London next week and I’m covering the World Economic Forum at
Davos, Switzerland, in January. I’m also moderating one panel on the environment and another on what’s on the minds of Asian business leaders.

On a plane, do you sleep? Read?

I like to go right to sleep. I’ll get on board, have a glass of wine, and that puts me to sleep. When I get up, I’ll
watch movies on DVD, whatever is new. What did I see last? The Break-Up, with Jennifer Aniston.

How do you manage work while traveling?

I work on my BlackBerry a lot to be as productive as possible. For example, I write letters to the people I meet [on
the trip] and send them to others to type up. So that even though they won’t go through while in the air, I know it’s done and [they] will be sent as soon as we land. I do a lot of work on my BlackBerry like that—constantly checking on my calendar and keeping in touch with my great assistant so we can strategize about future meetings, interviews, etc.

Where do you see your career heading?

I love the opportunity to interview people; that’s my favorite part of the job. Today, I’m interviewing Carlos Ghosn,
the CEO of Nissan and Renault. I’ve been pounding the phone the last couple of days, finding out about the auto industry and about him personally. I like doing that; it turns me on to get that kind of education all day long about so many different industries. I’d like to continue doing this, perhaps in different forms. I really like what Charlie Rose does. At some point, I’d like to have a one-hour, sit-down interview show, like what Charlie does, perhaps related to
the financial markets.

Before we go, we have to ask: Did you, in fact, inappropriately release remarks Ben Bernanke made at the April 2006 National Press Dinner? Detractors say Bernanke’s comments were off the record. What really happened?

Some people got that story wrong. I’ll tell you exactly what happened. I saw Bernanke at the dinner and I said to
him, “Mr. Bernanke, you used to come on my show a lot when you were chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. Now that you’re the chairman of the Fed, does this mean you’re not going to come on my show anymore?” He said, “Maria, stay tuned; we’re changing the way the Fed communicates. We want to be more transparent to the media, as well as to the market.” Then Bob Hormats, the vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, comes over, and the three of us are chatting, and Bob is asking Bernanke all these market-moving questions about wages, like has inflation gotten into wages yet. Bernanke’s not answering any of the questions. Then I say to him, “Mr. Bernanke, you just gave your first Congressional testimony the other day, and after you finished, the markets rallied, thinking that you’re done raising interest rates. Did the market get it right?” So he said to me, right in front of Hormats, “No, not at all.” I said, “Oh, why?” He said, “Because they think I’m done raising interest rates, and that’s not what I wanted to communicate. What I was trying to communicate was that we have to have flexibility, and it’s all about the data.” Then Bernanke leaves, and Hormats says, “Maria, I can’t believe what you just got out of Bernanke.” So, of course, I had a duty to report what Bernanke had told me. You can’t have one head of an investment bank— Goldman Sachs—knowing something like that and no one else. When I went on the air with what he told me, the whole market went crazy.

So, why was there a scandal about this?

It was not scandal. It was one thing and one thing only: I had a scoop, and I went with it. There were, like, 1,000
reporters there [at the dinner]? And I speak to Bernanke, and I get the scoop. Maybe they were mad, I don’t know. I
got a scoop, and that is the end of that story.

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Education: BA from New York University—journalism major, economics minor

First job: Checking coats at her father’s restaurant

Current job: Co-anchor (with Dylan Ratigan) of CNBC’s Closing Bell and anchor/producer of Wall
Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo

Business trips in 2006: 20

Leisure trips in 2006: 3

In her carry-on: Computer, magazines, BlackBerry, work, good book, wallet, passport and jewelry
or any other expensive items

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ROBERT MCGARVEY is a freelance writer based in New York.