An Interview With Donny Deutsch

Donny Deutsch

Image: Jessica Antola

1 of 9 NEXT

Advertising guru and CNBC host Donny Deutsch has come a long way since the day back in the early 1980s when his own father fired him. "I can't recall the exact moment he called me in, but he fired my ass, threw my ass out," Deutsch recalls, in an exclusive interview with Portfolio.com. "I wasn't doing my job, I wasn't performing. I wasn't committed.... It was a very good wake-up call."

It must have worked. Then Deutsch, 49, went on to turn his father David's tiny ad agency into one of the world's largest—a brand-name behemoth with 1,000 employees—and personally pocketed a quarter of a billion dollars when he sold Deutsch Inc. to the ad and marketing conglomerate Interpublic Group.

Between greetings from fellow power breakfasters the Reverend Al Sharpton and Larry King at the Regency Hotel in Manhattan this week, Deutsch, who is host of the nightly program The Big Idea on CNBC, shared his views on the new Fox Business Network, his dustup over the term "perfected Jews" with leggy right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter, the principles of good advertising, and, of course, his endlessly fascinating love life.

Lloyd Grove: So, I got up this morning at 5 o'clock to watch FBN. There's a new sheriff in town.

Donny Deutsch: I wouldn't call it a new sheriff. [Laughs.]

L.G.: What would you call it?

D.D.: To be honest, I didn't even watch it this morning.

L.G.: One thing I did notice was that among the most prolific advertisers was CNBC.

D.D.: [Laughs.] I think that was a very clever strategy. Look, let me tell you something about CNBC. [President] Mark Hoffman, [Senior Vice President] Jonathan Wald, and [Vice President] Susan Krakower-these guys are serious, you know. These guys are warriors. Mark has done a spectacular job. I think the record speaks for itself. They're on their A game and they're going to continue on their A game. They are offensive, and I don't mean in the negative sense of the word.

L.G.: Is there a negative sense of the word? Oh, yes, there is—we'll get to that.

D.D.: We're rocking and rolling—that's pretty much the bottom line.

L.G.: But do you know [Fox News and Fox Business Chairman] Roger Ailes?

D.D.: Yeah, look, Roger's obviously a very bright guy, and I get a kick out of Roger because Roger's got that twinkle in his eye. And obviously Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, they're smart guys. They'll figure out what they're going to do. They're not dopes. But CNBC has a brilliant brand, an incredible business model.
 
L.G.: You're talking about them like they're neophytes in the game and Fox News Channel is not the No. 1 cable news channel—and that Roger Ailes is not the most competitive man in television or any other business he's entered.

D.D.: Look, if you want to ask me if anybody is quaking in our boots, we're absolutely not. Guess what. Last time I looked, General Electric and the folks over there are pretty sharp dudes also. So to say that nobody's paying attention to them is ridiculous; to say that we're all of a sudden adjusting what we do or looking any different is equally ridiculous.... I wish Roger continued success. [Laughs.] What do you want me to say?... He's throwing grenades, and I'm a warrior so I respect that. Nobody's curing cancer here, and so people are going take off the gloves and want to knock dukes. That's fucking America, man! That's what this country is, so to me, I'll pick a guy like Roger Ailes any day of the week. He's a street fighter, and that's where I built my business, you know?

1 of 9 NEXT