CNBC'S FIRST ORIGINAL GAME SHOW, "FAST MONEY MBA CHALLENGE," PREMIERES WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1 AT 9 PM ET

CNBC'S FIRST ORIGINAL GAME SHOW, "FAST MONEY MBA CHALLENGE," PREMIERES WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1 AT 9 PM ET

"Fast Money MBA Challenge, " hosted by CNBC's Dylan Ratigan, Is The Ultimate Final Exam For The Next Generation of Wall Street Minds

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., July 19, 2007 --- Every MBA student thinks he or she knows how to make money. Now it's time to prove it. On the line are school pride, personal glory and cold hard cash.

CNBC's new game show series, "Fast Money MBA Challenge," is the varsity sport of the financial mind. Hosted by CNBC's Dylan Ratigan, anchor and co-creator of CNBC's "Fast Money" (8PM-9PM ET) and co-anchor of "Closing Bell" (3PM-4PM ET), "Fast Money MBA Challenge" features 32 current MBA students from eight business schools seeded according to their positioning contained within the 2007 US News & World Report Top Business Schools ranking. The competition is played in a traditional bracket format.

"Fast Money MBA Challenge" champions will receive $200,000, awarded by TD Ameritrade, to be split among all team members. The prize money must be used for tuition, repayment of school loans, books, room and board or other school related expenses.

"Based on the success of Fast Money's 'Grade the Trade' segment, we saw an opportunity to create a new type of program not traditionally found on CNBC, " said Susan Krakower, Vice President, Strategic Programming and Development. "With 'Fast Money MBA Challenge,' CNBC's viewing audience receives their own financial education while getting an inside look at the next generation of Wall Street wizards."

The participating schools are:

� Columbia Business School

� The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

� MIT Sloan School of Management

� NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business

� UCLA Anderson School of Management

� University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

� The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin

� Yale School of Management

In each program, schools compete head-to-head in categories testing their financial expertise to accumulate money in a virtual "Investment Portfolio" for each correct answer. This "Investment Portfolio" is not the amount of money the team could win, but rather reflects the score of the game. Each game consists of three unique rounds of competition and the winning team moves on to the next game beginning again with zero in their "Investment Portfolio."

The Championship game, airing Wednesday, August 22nd, contains an additional round of competition. The team with the higher point value at the end of the third round is awarded $110,000 in virtual money and the other team is awarded $100,000 to create a "Championship Portfolio" consisting of five individual publicly traded stocks. Each team's point totals are set aside and finalists will be graded on the actual market performance of their "Championship Portfolio" from the beginning of trading on Monday, July 16th through the close of the market on Wednesday, August 22nd. The team whose "Championship Portfolio" has the highest value will be declared the winner of "Fast Money MBA Challenge" on August 22nd live from the NASDAQ and receive $200,000 courtesy of TD Ameritrade.

CNBC viewers can guess who will win the evening's battle by text messaging or signing up via the web at mbachallenge.cnbc.com to be entered to win an iPhone from Apple. The winner will be announced live at the end of each program. In addition, the site contains special web exclusives including "What Kind of Trader Are You?" and "Are You Smarter Than an MBA?" Results will also be updated on the site throughout the program.

For more information, log on to mbachallenge.cnbc.com.

CNBC's "Fast Money MBA Challenge" premieres on Wednesday, August 1st at 9PM & 12AM ET and will air on Wednesday nights leading up to the finale on Wednesday, August 22nd live from the NASDAQ.*

The Executive Producer of "Fast Money MBA Challenge" is Mary Duffy. Susan Krakower is the creator of the program and Vice President of Strategic Programming and Development.

About CNBC:

CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 390 million homes worldwide, including more than 95 million households in the United States and Canada. The network's Business Day programming (weekdays from 5:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and also includes reports from CNBC news bureaus worldwide. Additionally, CNBC viewers can manage their individual investment portfolios and gain additional in-depth information from on-air reports by accessing www.cnbc.com . Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at

*Editor's Note: CNBC's "The Fast Money MBA Challenge" Programming Schedule

� EPISODE 1 -- Wednesday, August 1, 9pm &11am ET
� EPISODE 2 -- Wednesday, August 8, 9pm & 12am ET
� EPISODE 3 -- Wednesday, August 15, 9pm & 12am ET
� EPISODE 4 -- Wednesday, August 22, 9pm & 12am ET