It still is amazing that when Fox Business launched back in 2007, how lightly CNBC took the new financial channel. 

When FBN went on the air it had no audience and took a awhile to even pull enough numbers to get above a scratch. CNBC executives and many staffers made fun of Fox Business and acted like they weren't even a competitor. 

CNBC isn't laughing anymore.

What Fox Business has done in less than a decade is nothing short of remarkable. The network went from not evening being close to CNBC ratings wise, to now beating the NBC financial channel often. 

In May, Fox Business Network’s Lou Dobbs Tonight was the highest rated business program in all of business television, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Earning 224,000 total viewers in May, Dobbs beat out all of CNBC’s news programming, and scored his fifth consecutive monthly win over CNBC’s 7pm timeslot.

Looking at business day numbers, FBN Averaged 133,000 total viewers in Business Day (9:30a-5p/ET), FBN saw an 151% increase in total viewers and an 89% gain in the A25-54 this May, while CNBC saw ratings decline of 36% in the A25-54 demo in Business Day.

Fox Business is no longer the joke and no one at CNBC is laughing anymore.