CNBC's Bill Griffeth Taking A Year Off

One of the old guard is taking a year off. Will he be back?

Bill Griffeth was originally with the Financial News Network. FNN was the CNBC of the late 1980's. Then GE came in with its deep pockets and bought up all FNN's high Q scoring anchors, including Griffeth and Sue Herera. It was a scorched earth tactic that killed FNN.

Now Griffeth is gone for 52 weeks. I wonder what his Q scores are like now?

Here's what Griffeth has to say about his vacation:

First let me address all of the conspiracy theories: I'm not sick, I'm not being pushed out, and I'm not going on Dancing With The Stars. It's pretty straightforward. My wife and I are new empty-nesters, so after 28 years of doing business on TV now seems like a good time to take a break, do some traveling, work on a couple of book projects, and shave strokes off of my golf handicap. I will probably turn up on the air from time to time during the year, so I'll still see you around.

It's curious that CNBC buried this announcement on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week at 4:15 PM, after many traders are already gone for the holiday. Did they think everyone would come back after the holiday and not notice Griffeth wasn't around?