David Westin, the former president of ABC News, will join Bloomberg anchor Stephanie Ruhle as hosts of “Bloomberg GO,” a morning show aimed at traders, financial executives and a global business audience.
“Our audience will be impatient with that sort of stuff. They are busy people who want to get something they can use something they aren’t going to get somewhere else,” Westin told Variety. “If we don’t give them that, they are going to go on to somewhere else.”
Westin’s move from executive to host got a boost from ABC’s Charlie Gibson over lunch with Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith:
A lunch with former “Good Morning America” and “World News” anchor Charlie Gibson put the idea in his head, he said. “We weren’t going to fish in traditional waters. We weren’t dialing up our competitors and saying, ‘Would you come over here?’” Smith explained. Gibson cited Westin’s intelligence and aptitude for on-camera work and Smith was impressed by his non-TV pedigree: Westin once served as a Supreme Court clerk. Earlier this month, Westin interviewed Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and elicited some news: Buffett said he agreed with Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump on aspects of tax policy.