Neil Cavuto, the longtime host of “Your World,” will deliver his final show on Thursday and sign off after more than 28 years with Fox, Mediaite scooped.
As one of the few remaining on-air talents since the network’s inception in 1996, Cavuto is a walking encyclopedia of conservative history who will be taking his institutional knowledge with him when his contract ends in January.
Sources close to the negotiations say Fox offered him a renewal, but that Cavuto felt his time would be better spent elsewhere. Employees say he remains a beloved presence at the studios and that there is no bad blood between Cavuto and network executives.
“Neil Cavuto’s illustrious career has been a master class in journalism, and we’re extremely proud of his incredible 28-year run with FOX News Media,” Fox said in a statement to Mediaite. “His programs have defined business news and set the standard for the entire industry. We wish him a heartfelt farewell and all the best on his next chapter.”
Cavuto, 66, operated in the orbit of cable news long before the advent of opinion journalism. The New York native left a well-established career covering business news at CNBC to join Fox at its foundation, hosting and directing “Your World with Neil Cavuto.” In 2006, he began serving concurrently as the network’s vice president of business news. Over nearly three decades on TV, he has written five best-sellers encouraging Americans to pay close attention to their personal finances.
Despite being cut from a conservative cloth, Cavuto was never fully in the Trump camp during the president-elect’s four years in office. He sharply criticized anti-Covid vaccine rhetoric after surviving a near-fatal bout with the virus and hasn’t been shy about deeming some of Trump’s statements “misinformation,” including allegations about FEMA workers during this year’s hurricane season. Sources say that his occasional disagreements with Trump have nothing to do with the end of his run, adding that if Fox were concerned about his “Trump skeptic” stances, his show would have long ago been canceled.
The departure is another sign that even Fox, with its best-in-the-business ratings, is not immune from the declining viewership in cable news. The years when anchors commanded unquestioned six and seven-figure salaries are long gone, and in their place has emerged a new era of social media and podcast journalism that has enticed other prominent reporters to leave for greener, self-employed pastures. At Fox, observers are cautiously watching to see how legal matters between the children of founder Rupert Murdoch, 93, shake out in relation to the family trust and his will. Unless his eldest son, Lachlan, maintains editorial ownership over Fox, as Rupert wishes, it is feared that some of his left-leaning children may attempt to take the network in a more progressive direction.
