The Big Picture - Macro Perspective on the Capital Markets, Economy, Technology, and Digital Media

Curriculum Vitae

A frequent commentator on business television, Barry L. Ritholtz is a regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox, PBS, and CNN.  He has appeared on a myriad shows, including Fast Money, Kudlow & Company and Power Lunch. He has guest-hosted Squawk Box on numerous occasions, and also appears regularly on other shows. Mr. Ritholtz was profiled in the Wall Street Journal’s Quite Contrary column (August 3, 2004; Page C3). And interviewed in Barrons “A Leading Bear Turns Bullish, Sort of.” His market perspectives are quoted regularly in the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortunes, and other print media².

Mr. Ritholtz is the author of the new book Bailout Nation, published by Wiley & Co. on May 26 2009. The book has been called “A valuable new contribution to our understanding of how we arrived at this sorry juncture” by Bloomberg, a “wonderfully engaging book” by Crossing Wall Street. And the site Trader’s Narrative said it will become “the encyclopaedia that future historians and traders come back to.”

In his day job, Mr. Ritholtz is CEO and Director of Equity Research at Fusion IQ, an online quantitative research firm. Fusion makes its comprehensive number crunching available to institutions, traders and individual investors alike.  This marks the first time an institutional grade quant research product is available to the public at an affordable price.

Ritholtz is deeply honored to be the dedicatee of the The 2007 Stock Trader’s Almanac’s 40th Anniversary edition. He is a sought after speaker at conferences and panels, and regularly appears on radio and television.

Beyond his weekly commentary and published articles, Mr. Ritholtz also authors The Big Picture — a leading financial weblog. The Big Picture covers Investing & Trading to Macro Economics, and everything else in between. The blog has quickly amassed over 35 million visitors.

Media accolades have poured in for The Big Picture from the NYT (“Trenchant economic commentary”) and the WSJ (”What the In-Crowd Knows). The Journal cited The Big Picture as the Economic “Blog Insiders Read to Stay Current;” Business Week noted its “insightful calls on the direction of the stock market” (Blogging For Dollars). CNBC’s Larry Kudlow described it as “very helpful and addictive — the best stock market blog there is.” Numerous traffic sites rank The Big Picture as the most trafficked Markets/Economic’s blog on the web.

Ritholtz’ longstanding interest in media and technology led him to Burst.com, a publicly traded software firm focusing on faster-than-real-time audio and video streaming over the internet. He has served on the firm’s Board of Directors for the past 4 years. His expertise in digital media has led top tier Newspapers and Magazines to consult with him on the development of their online strategies.

Recently, Mr. Ritholtz was Chief Market Strategist for Maxim Group a New York Investment bank, managing over $5 Billion in clients assets.  Applying his model to the broader investing environment, Mr. Ritholtz wrote weekly Market Commentary for the firm’s brokers and institutional clientele.

Mr. Ritholtz is the author of the popular “Apprenticed Investor” columns at TheStreet.com, a series geared towards educating novice and intermediate investors. Mr. Ritholtz also publishes more formal analyses, often at The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, or RealMoney.com³.

Hailed as a “bright and savvy fellow” by Alan Abelson’s Up and Down Wall Street column (Barron’s), he is one of handful of Strategists who participate in BusinessWeek’s annual market forecast. He teaches a course on The Economy of America for New York University’s School of Continuing & Professional Studies.

Mr. Ritholtz performed his graduate studies at Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, where he focused on Economics, Anti-Trust and Corporate Law. He was a member of the Law Review, and graduated Cum Laude with a 3.56 GPA.

His undergraduate work was at Stony Brook University, where on a Regents Scholarship, he focused on Mathematics and Physics, graduating with an Bachelor Arts & Sciences degree in Political Science. He was a member of the Stony Brook Equestrian Team, and competed successfully in the National Championships (1981) of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. In addition to writing the National Affairs column for the campus weekly (The Stony Brook Press), he was elected Vice-President of the student body.

When not bemoaning the New York Knicks‘ all-too-frequent offensive lapses, Mr. Ritholtz is a vintage sports car enthusiast. He and his wife Wendy, an artist and teacher, and their hairy dog Max, live on the North Shore of Long Island, New York.