Dobbs was once “respected as a business journalist,” former Fox News executive John Huddy said in an email message. But in recent years he had been “out of control, reckless and bad tempered,” Huddy said, articulating some of the factors that may have weighed on management’s decision.

Indeed, sources currently at the network said that tensions between Dobbs and management flared several times in 2019 and 2020. In one memorable episode, a husband and wife pair of pro-Trump attorneys who were regulars on Dobbs’ show suddenly seemed to be blacklisted by the network…

As one insider put it, Dobbs’ ratings didn’t justify the headaches. While he was the highest-rated host on Fox Business, the network is relatively low-rated across the board. Dobbs averaged 300,000 viewers on a typical day at 5 p.m. ET. The show reached smaller audiences when it re-aired multiple times later in the day.

The insider said that Dobbs’ history of incendiary segments, and his show’s weak performance with advertisers, were factors in the decision.