Fox Business Network Adds to Anchor Ranks

Barnes, Lee, Petallides, Willard Join Asman, Casone, Gomez, McDowell, Varney

By Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/18/2007 5:25:00 PM

Fox Business Network is amassing its anchor ranks.

On the heels of last week’s anchor announcements -- several from Fox News Channel -- the network announced new hires Tuesday.

Peter Barnes joins FBN from Hearst-Argyle Television, where he was Washington bureau chief.

Jenna Lee and Nicole Petallides come aboard from Forbes.com and Bloomberg Television, respectively.

And Cody Willard pens a monthly investment column for Financial Times and also appeared regularly on CNBC’s Kudlow & Company from 2004-06.

They join previously announced anchors David Asman, Cheryl Casone, Rebecca Gomez, Dagen McDowell and Stuart Varney.

They also may be sharing airtime with Wall Street Journal reporters, hinted News Corp. chairman and new WSJ owner Rupert Murdoch at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference Tuesday.

WSJ reporters are contractually bound to appear on FBN chief rival CNBC, but Murdoch told investors that they could come on FBN to talk about subjects other than financial news.