CNBC has found American greed within its own ranks.
The money-focused news network recently fired two employees for stealing after conducting its own in-house sting operation, according to sources.
The network set up cameras to catch the thieves on tape pilfering cosmetics and camera equipment, one source said.
Both staffers were running the same sort of schemes that CNBC covers in shows like “American Greed.”
One female assistant was terminated for swiping makeup from the green room and reselling it, while a second staffer was let go after he was revealed to be running an outside studio using stolen CNBC equipment, the source said.
“They organized a sting operation where they went to the location and saw all the equipment,” said the source. “They have an NSA-style operation going on over there to catch people breaking the rules.”
The network, part of media giant NBCUniversal, confirmed the two staffers were no longer working for company but declined to comment on the circumstances of their departure.
CNBC is weeding out waste, fraud and abuse even as it struggles to sort out its own ratings woes.
The latest quarterly ratings show the business network hit a 20-year low in the key 25-to-54-year-old demographic, averaging just 38,000 viewers. Overall viewers averaged roughly 133,000.
Despite the ratings slump, NBCUniversal Chairwoman Patricia Fili-Krushel has renewed CNBC chief Mark Hoffman’s contract for another three years.
A CNBC spokesman declined to comment on employee contracts.