Christine Romans is getting ready for a new start at NBC News after logging early morning hours at CNN‘s “Early Start” for the past several years.
The CNN veteran, who has been with the Warner Bros. Discovery network for 24 years as a business correspondent and early-morning anchor, is leaving and likely to land at NBC News in an as-yet-unannounced role, according to two people familiar with the matter. She announced her exit on Friday’s broadcast of “Early Start,” the CNN crack-of-dawn program she has anchors since 2014.
NBC News declined to make executives available for comment. Roman’s new role could make use of her deep background in business and financial journalism.
“I’ve decided I’m ready for a new chapter,” Romans said Friday morning. People familiar with the network characterize the decision as the anchor’s own, and not tied directly to any of the recent cost-cutting measures Warner Bros. Discovery has enacted in recent months.
Romans has deep roots at CNN, which she joined in 1999 after stints at newspapers and Reuters Television. She has been around CNN long enough to have worked as a correspondent on Lou Dobbs’ evening business-news program and to have appeared on the now defunct CNNfN, a business-news cable network meant to help the former Time Warner compete with CNBC.
At CNN, Romans is viewed as a stalwart. “She’s a rock,” said one person familiar with her tenure at the network.
CNN is expected to keep “Early Start” on the schedule, but will use a rotating array of anchors until making a permanent decision about assigning talent to the show.
NBC has seemed very interested in CNN anchors as of late. Ana Cabrera, an up and coming CNN daytime anchor, recently joined the MSNBC lineup. And Laura Jarrett, who co-anchored “Early Start” for a time alongside Romans, now works in NBC News’ Washington bureau.
