‘Fox News’ Host Maria Bartiromo’s Staggering Salary Revealed
What To Know
- Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo has received over $70 million since joining the network in 2014, as revealed in documents from the Smartmatic defamation lawsuit.
- The lawsuit alleges Fox News, Bartiromo, and others spread false claims about the 2020 election and voting machines.
- Bartiromo faced criticism for conducting softball interviews with Donald Trump, during which he made unproven claims of election fraud.
Fox News is in the middle of a lawsuit, which has brought to light some interesting behind-the-scenes details, including how the network has paid news anchor Maria Bartiromo a massive $70 million since 2014.
The revelation came in documents disclosed as part of Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News. The files, obtained by TheWrap, include transcriptions of the deposition in which Bartiromo, a defendant in the suit, was asked about her salary.
“And so is it fair to say that you, from when you first started working at Fox through sort of the upcoming contract in 2025, you would have stood to be compensated over $70 million?” Bartiromo was asked during the deposition.
She answered, “Yes.”
In comparison, fellow Fox News anchor Sean Hannity reportedly makes $25 million per year, according to CelebrityNetWorth, while Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld reportedly make $5 million and $9 million per year, respectively.
Bartiromo joined Fox Business and Fox News in 2014 following two decades at CNBC. Serving as a financial reporter and news anchor, Bartiromo became known for her softball interviews with President Donald Trump, including his first interview after he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden.
During the interview, Trump claimed the 2020 election was “rigged” and that “fraud” took place, alleging that voting machines had “glitches” and made changes, including transferring Trump votes to Biden.
Smartmatic, one of the companies behind these voting machines, filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News in 2021, alleging that the network spread false claims about the election that damaged its reputation.
Trump’s voter fraud claims were never proven.
At the time, Bartiromo was slammed by critics for failing to push back on Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.
Fox News Media shared a statement, saying, “The evidence shows that Smartmatic’s business and reputation were badly suffering long before any claims by President Trump’s lawyers on FOX News and that Smartmatic grossly inflated its damage claims to generate headlines and chill free speech. Now, in the aftermath of Smartmatic being criminally charged with bribery in the Philippines and the Government’s motion to include evidence of Smartmatic’s business dealings in Venezuela and Los Angeles County, we are eager and ready to continue defending our press freedoms.”
In addition to Fox and Bartiromo, Smarmatic names former Fox News host and current United States attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro as a defendant, alongside former Fox News anchor Lou Dobbs and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Conversation14 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Register or sign in to join the conversation.
-
T
$70 million over 11 yrs comes out to just over $6 mil per year. This is less than the contracts for Hannity, Gutfeld, and Pirro when she was employed there. Bartiromo is by far the best business news anchor on TV.
-
T
Agree. Well said !!
-
G
Unless you prefer actual facts and a commitment to honesty...
-
-
D
It's not just her, it's all of them. The reason they have five minutes of news and 10 minutes of commercials is they have to make revenue to pay these salaries. What did it for me was they came back after about 10 minutes of news for abut 1 minute to tell us what was coming and then went to another long long commercial break. No more Fox News for me. I watch Newsmax or Live Now which have the same stories with way less commercials.
-
M
Maria is an excellent trump interviewer.
-
C
That $70 million salary is acceptable by both parties there it is good for both.
-
G
Good heavens! I guess facts are just too tedious and difficult for you, eh?
-
E
70M for 12 1/2 years is nothing icompare to other newscasters. She should be making more as she is one of the best out there.
-
T
20 minutes of content; 10 minutes of self promotion’ 30 minutes of ads . . . I’m buying blu ray & Dvd’s
“News” is same O, same O, same O. Mostly fiction, boring, targeted for an ebetudenous audience..no thank you . . .
-
B
Hunter Biden wasn't running for president he was a drug addict and sex addict and he also was prosecuted under Bidens term so please stop the silly conspiracy theories. 51 federal agents🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
-
D
I agree that Fox News has WAY to many commercials per hour. It's frustrating as hell. Business is business and the network needs to p;ack in commercials to pay those salaries. But...it is a big reason that I quit watching a LOT of Fox. My wife and I basically will watch Jesse, Levin, a little of the 5 and hardly any of Hannity. It's not just the commercials with Hannity, but it's his constant interruptions of his guests and the fact he gives us a history lesson with each question he asks his guests...taking forever to ask the question...giving his guests 5 seconds to answer.
I am a tired viewer.
-
F
Fox has made a lot money riding the Trump Circus for 12 years. Now that the world and America is catching up with the fraud, it time to move on and get rid of the overpaid talking heads that are having a hard time changing to the new reality and going on to fair and balanced coverage. Time to drop the dead weight and find new talk heads without Trump baggage.
-
K
Why don't you just say, "We cant stand seeing a woman make a lot of money." You don't have to blame everything on Trump.
-
T
The word is "hebetudinous."