Stuart A. Varney (born 7 July 1948) is a British-American

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

host and conservative

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

who works for

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

and the

Fox Business Network Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American conservative business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios ...

. Born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, he worked as a journalist before joining Fox News in January 2004 as a business contributor, such as on ''

Your World with Neil Cavuto ''Your World'' (known as ''Your World with Neil Cavuto'' from 1996–2024) is an American television news and business talk show on Fox News Channel. Episodes aired live at 4 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. The show focused on the development o ...

''.

Early life

Varney was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. After secondary school, Varney spent a year working in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, Kenya, before graduating from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

Journalism career

After arriving in Hong Kong, he became a broadcaster for Radio Hong Kong. During this time, he would help cover various events and had a short stint working as a voice actor for a dubbing firm founded by Matthew Oram, a fellow Radio Hong Kong broadcaster. He continued to work for Radio Hong Kong before he began his broadcast journalism career at KEMO-TV (now KOFY-TV) in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He was then recruited to join the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

bureau of the newly formed 24-hour news network

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, which launched on June 1, 1980. He hosted the CNN shows ''Business Day'', ''Business Asia'', and '' Moneyline'' with

Willow Bay Willow Bay (born Kristine Carlin Bay; December 28, 1963) is an American television journalist, editor, author, and former model. In 2017, she became dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism having earlier served as direc ...

. In 2001, he left CNN to host

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

's "Wall Street Journal Editorial Board with Stuart Varney." He joined

's business team in January 2004, and joined

as an anchor when the network launched in October 2007.

Fox Business Network

Varney currently co-hosts '' Varney & Co.'' on the

, which airs from 9:00 a.m. to noon ET every weekday. The show is also co-hosted by Lauren Simonetti, Madison Alworth, Susan Li and Ashley Webster. He is also a regular panel member on the Fox Business program ''Cashin' In''. Varney has appeared on and guest-hosted "Your World with Neil Cavuto." On August 30, 2023,

Fox Business Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American conservative business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios ...

announced that Varney would be a moderator of the second GOP Primary Debate alongside Dana Perino.

Notable commentaries

In an interview on June 5, 2013 on Fox News, Varney said "We hand down $79 billion dollars every January on these so-called poor people." "You’re not being mean to poor people?" host

Gretchen Carlson Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson (born June 21, 1966) is an American broadcast journalist, writer, and television personality. Carlson was born and raised in Minnesota. A talented youth violinist, Carlson competed in a number of music contests befor ...

asked Varney, who responded, "I am. I am being mean to poor people. Frankly, I am." This exchange of words gained brief popularity when it was cited on ''

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

, with journalists from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reporting on his comments afterwards. On the July 19, 2011 edition of Fox News' ''Your World with Neil Cavuto'', Varney criticized the view that America's poor are "starving and living in squalor," citing a Heritage Foundation report on how the ownership of household appliances demonstrates how well-off America's poor really are. Varney concluded by saying, "The image we have of poor people as starving and living in squalor really is not accurate. Many of them have things; what they lack is the richness of spirit. That's my opinion." In 2013 Varney generated controversy for his commentary on

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

, who had criticized the

wealth gap The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It shows one aspect of economic inequality or heterogeneity in economics, economic heterogeneity. The distribution of wealth differs from the i ...

and denounced unfettered capitalism as a system which "rules rather than serves." Varney stated, "I go to church to save my soul. It’s got nothing to do with my vote. Pope Francis has linked the two. He has offered direct criticism of a specific political system. He has characterized, negatively, that system. I think he wants to influence my politics." In a December 2018 interview, Republican congressman Louie Gohmert repeated a false conspiracy theory about

George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...

that he "turned on fellow Jews and helped take the property that they owned." Varney did not address Gohmert's comments, moving the segment on. Varney later distanced himself from the remarks, calling them "unsubstantiated and false allegations".

Personal life

Varney has lived in the United States since 1975. In November 2015, Varney became an American citizen. He has six children and eleven grandchildren.

References

External links

Bio on FoxBusiness.com
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varney, Stuart 1949 births Living people American television reporters and correspondents American political commentators American broadcast news analysts American Episcopalians Alumni of the London School of Economics Conservative media in the United States English emigrants to the United States English expatriates in Kenya Fox Business people People from Derby Hong Kong journalists Writers from San Francisco People from Franklin Lakes, New Jersey People from Wyckoff, New Jersey Fox News people Naturalized citizens of the United States 21st-century American Episcopalians