Original format (December 19, 2005-March 11, 2011)

The original program format began with the three anchors, Christine Tan from Asia, Ross Westgate from Europe, and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera from the United States, respectively, along with the headlines from each continent. A round-up of trading in Europe and Asia followed (normally including a look at the FTSE CNBC Global 300 Index, which was launched on the show on 2006-09-18), along with a look at US stock futures. The top business stories in each continent were then narrated in turn.

The first half-hour also featured the program's signature segment, the fast-paced "Global Stock Watch". Breaking news on European economic data was frequently covered 30 minutes into the show, and was followed by instant analysis with a guest. The remainder of the original program format consisted largely of a mix of business headlines (which were then repeated in the second hour), interviews with guests, and issue-specific dispatches from CNBC reporters. Caruso-Cabrera left on October 19, 2007, and was replaced by Brian Shactman until at the end of 2009. The following year, on February 1, 2010, Nicole Lapin became the U.S. presenter until her departure from the network on August 5, 2011.

From its premiere until March 25, 2011, Worldwide Exchange featured guest hosts during both hours of the show.

Two regular segments which appeared towards the end of the broadcast were a preview of Squawk Box, (which immediately follows Worldwide Exchange in the US and Asia), and the "US Lookahead." At the end of the broadcast, before the three anchors signed off, the US anchor took a final look at US stock futures if time permitted.

Second format (March 28, 2011-May 11, 2012)

On March 28, 2011, Worldwide Exchange underwent a major overhaul. The first 50 minutes of the program were initially broadcast from Asia and Europe, with the US leg of the show starting at 50 minutes past the first hour. The three anchors were together for just 20 minutes, from :50 past the first hour to :10 past the second hour. Also, the Asian leg of Worldwide Exchange was no longer featured after :10 past the second hour, to which the show was broadcast only from Europe and the United States from that point forward.

Additionally, during this period, the second hour of Worldwide Exchange was not broadcast on CNBC Asia. Following Lapin's departure from the network, Jackie DeAngelis (who was previously a correspondent in CNBC's Bahrain studios) became the US presenter until May 11, 2012 (see below).

Third format (May 14, 2012-December 31, 2015)

Worldwide Exchange underwent an overhaul on May 14, 2012, with the addition of Kelly Evans as co-anchor. In another major tweak, the show was then broadcast entirely from Europe. At that point, there were no longer Asian and U.S. anchors, due in part to Tan's and DeAngelis' departures from the show, leaving Ross Westgate as the last original anchor. The program later launched new titles and reduced to a single location with the program being solely presented from London.

Ross Westgate became the sole anchor of Worldwide Exchange on May 7, 2013, after Kelly Evans' departure from CNBC Europe's London headquarters, due to her reassignment back to the United States and her then-new anchoring duties on Squawk on the Street. On June 6, 2014, Westgate himself left the program, as well as CNBC Europe, and was replaced by Julia Chatterley. Newly hired anchor Wilfred Frost (son of David Frost) joined as co-anchor on September 1, 2014, and Seema Mody (formerly of CNBC TV18 and CNBC US) joined the program on September 15 (later to leave during September 2015 when she returned to CNBC's US headquarters).^[1] In June 2015, Carolin Roth (previously CNBC Europe's Zurich correspondent and Europe anchor of Capital Connection) joined the program. She replaced Julia Chatterley (who then returned to her previous role as a correspondent) and became a permanent co-anchor. On September 4, 2015 as previously mentioned, Mody left Worldwide Exchange to rejoin CNBC US and less than a week later, on September 10, Susan Li, previously a co-anchor of Asia Squawk Box on sister network CNBC Asia, joined the program in the same capacity.

The last two-hour edition of Worldwide Exchange aired on December 24, 2015, and was reduced to one-hour beginning the week of December 28. The final CNBC Europe-produced show from London aired on December 31, 2015.

Current format (January 4, 2016-present)

Beginning on January 4, 2016, Worldwide Exchange is produced and presented from the United States and now primarily acts as an early morning show for the American audience rather than as a global business programme. Sara Eisen (currently co-anchor of CNBC US' Squawk on the Street) joined incumbent anchor Frost as the new anchor team for the new hour-long show and now airs weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. ET on the main CNBC channel and CNBC World in the United States, 11:00 a.m. to noon CET on CNBC Europe, and 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (with DST) or 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (without DST) Hong Kong/Singapore/Taiwan Time on CNBC Asia except Friday until April 24, 2020.

On March 12, 2018, Brian Sullivan (former co-anchor of Power Lunch), replaced Wilfred Frost and Sara Eisen as anchor of Worldwide Exchange. Eisen, in turn, replaced Sullivan on Power Lunch, while Frost moved to Closing Bell to co-anchor alongside Kelly Evans (herself a former co-anchor of Worldwide Exchange); both Eisen and Frost co-anchored Closing Bell from November 29, 2018 until the latter's departure from CNBC on February 16, 2022.

On February 21, 2023, Frank Holland replaced Brian Sullivan as anchor of Worldwide Exchange.

Graphics

Then-program producer CNBC Europe developed a new graphic style for the launch of the show on 2005-12-19, similar to that introduced across CNBC US on the same date. These graphics were initially used only on Worldwide Exchange, before being rolled out to all other CNBC Europe programs on 2006-09-18 and were used through 2008-01-04. The previous lower thirds, which were first used across CNBC US on 2006-12-19, were used on Worldwide Exchange (and all other CNBC Europe programs) from 2008-01-07 to 2009-07-24.

The programme's previous graphics package, which included a new intertitle and a new voiceover introduction (but retaining the lower thirds from 28 July 2009 to 26 February 2010), debuted 14 December 2009. The graphics package for this and all of the other CNBC Europe programmes, including the new lower thirds, debuted 1 March 2010 to 11 May 2012. This new graphic style also debuted on CNBC US that same day.

Started from 14 May 2012, CNBC Europe developed a new graphic style of the show until 6 March 2015.

On 13 October 2014, the CNBC regional tickers on this show switched from a Klavika typeface font to a Gotham typeface font, with the on-screen bug being moved to the lower right of the screen.

Worldwide Exchange launched new titles - including the programme's new logo (which replaced variations of the original that were used since its 19 December 2005 debut) - as well as new theme music (which is the same as CNBC US' Options Action) and a new graphic style based on the US network's version on 9 March 2015. CNBC Europe itself (which originally produced Worldwide Exchange as previously mentioned) debuted the new graphics for this and all of that network's other programmes on the same day.

The graphics were changed slightly on January 4, 2016, when CNBC US took over production, coinciding with the show's relocation to the network's Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The colour changed from green-blue to orange-blue (the same as the original Squawk Box logo).

Previous anchors

• Ross Westgate (2005–2014)
• Michelle Caruso-Cabrera (2005–2007), later chief international correspondent for CNBC U.S.
• Christine Tan (2005–2012), now presents Managing Asia
• Brian Shactman (2007–2009)
• Nicole Lapin (February 1, 2010 – August 5, 2011)
• Kelly Evans (2012–2013), now hosts The Exchange and co-anchors Power Lunch on CNBC US
• Seema Mody (2014–2015), rejoined CNBC US in September 2015
• Susan Li (September–December 2015), now with Fox Business Network
• Julia Chatterley (2014–2015), now with CNN International
• Wilfred Frost (2014-2018), no longer with CNBC as of 16 February 2022
• Sara Eisen (2016-2018), now co-anchor of Squawk on the Street
• Brian Sullivan (2018–2023), now anchor of Last Call