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Billy Hult is the ex-husband of Allison Gollust, who is the center of a scandal due to her relationship with former CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker. Zucker announced Wednesday, February 2, 2022, that he was resigning from CNN because he did not disclose a “consensual relationship” at the time it started.
Hult is the president of Tradeweb Markets, an international financial trading company based in New York City, according to the company’s website. He joined the business as project manager in 2000, his company bio says. He is 52 years old.
Neither Gollust nor Zucker is married. The Sun reported they are both divorced, but printed Gollust’s ex-husband’s name as Billy Hunt. His name was circulated widely as Billy Hunt on social media. Zucker’s ex-wife is Caryn Zucker. The Zuckers were divorced in 2018.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Hult Joined Tradeweb Markets in 2000 & Became President in 2008
GettyBilly Hult and Allison Gollust Hult attend ROOM TO GROW 10th Anniversary Benefit Gala at Christie’s on December 2, 2008 in New York City.
Hult started out with Tradeweb Markets as a project manager in 2000 and rose through the ranks to become president in 2008, his Tradeweb Markets bio says. He also serves on the company’s board of directors.
“Hult directed Tradeweb’s entrance into wholesale electronic trading. He led the acquisition of broker Hilliard Farber, creation of Dealerweb, and launch of the company’s first platform for wholesale electronic trading. Under Hult’s leadership, Dealerweb has expanded its product scope, which include government bonds, mortgages and credit,” his bio says.
The bio describes him as “instrumental in working with clients, partners and investors.”
“Mr. Hult is a central figure in electronic fixed income trading having led the development of several new and innovative marketplaces connecting liquidity providers and consumers,” his bio says.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, his bio says. He worked for Société Générale before joining Tradeweb, serving in several trading roles, his bio says.
2. Hult Congratulated His Wife on Twitter After She Was Appointed to Then-Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Team in 2012
TwitterA screenshot from Billy Hult’s Twitter page.
Hult shared on Twitter that his then-wife had been named as Cuomo’s director of communications in 2012, sharing an article with the headline, “Cuomo Announces Appointment of Allison Gollust to Serve as Director of Communications.” The tweets on his Twitter page, on which uses the name William Holt, was private February 2, 2022.
“congratulations billy! Very cool,” one person wrote in response to the 2012 tweet.
“This didn’t age well,” another person wrote on February 2, 2022.
Gollust’s CNN profile mentions her previous work for Cuomo. Cuomo was accused of sexual harassment by 11 women, including some who worked in his office, according to an investigative report from the State of New York Office of the Attorney General Letitia James. Among the allegations were accusations of Cuomo touching women inappropriately. CNN Business wrote that Gollust worked only briefly for Cuomo.
3. Hult & Gollust Have 2 Daughters Together & They Both Remain in New York
Flashback to 2017, when Jeff Zucker got into it with Allison Gollust, the CNN colleague he was having a consensual relationship with despite, you know, being her boss…
Gollust’s CNN profile mentions her two daughters, who live with her in New York, but makes no mention of a husband. The personal information revealed in her profile is brief, with two sentences about the start of her career and her current life.
The Sun reported that Gollust was married to Billy Hult, the president of Tradeweb. It says that they were divorced, but does not say when their marriage ended. They have two daughters together, Olivia and Ava, The Sun reported.
Gollust’s Tradeweb bio does not discuss his children or personal life.
He wrote on his Twitter page that he is a native New Yorker.
4. Hult Was Named in Institutional Investor‘s ‘2017 Trading Tech 40’
Zucker did not name his colleague in the memo, but the relationship is with Allison Gollust, the chief marketing officer for CNN. Gollust is remaining at CNN. t.co/leQjFGOtmi
Hult was ranked 14 on “The 2017 Trading Tech 40” by “Institutional Investor.” The publication described his role with his trading company in keeping up with technological changes.
The publication wrote:
It is essential to keep up with the accelerating pace of technological change in financial markets — but, notes Billy Hult, patience is also a virtue because it can take time for cycles to turn favorable. He says that his job is to put Tradeweb Markets, a pioneering fixed-income trading platform operator that has diversified with derivatives and exchange-traded funds, in a position to succeed as market conditions evolve, and 2016 turned out to be a big year for core products like interest rate swaps and mortgage-backed securities. The flurry of activity following the U.S. presidential election had Tradeweb running on all cylinders.
He told the publication that Tradeweb Markets was in a good position to benefit from the changing market following the 2016 Presidential election.
“We were beneficiaries of a changing market environment and were positioned well for the conditions postelection,” he told Institutional Investor.
5. Hult Spends His Free Time Serving With New York-Based Organizations & Katie Couric Wrote About Zucker’s Relationship With Gollust Stretching Back to the ’90s
.@brianstelter reads a statement from Allison Gollust, the colleague who was having a consensual relationship with Jeff Zucker:
“Jeff and I have been close friends and professional partners for over 20 years. Recently our relationship changed during Covid.”
Billy Hult serves on the board of directors for Boys Hope Girls Hope New York, according to the organization’s website. The organization offers a residential program for scholars and gives them access to art therapy and outside therapy services, the organization’s website says. His Tradeweb Markets bio says he also serves on the board of directors for the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. Bloomberg reported he is also on the board of directors for the CityKids Foundation.
Gollust wrote in a statement that her relationship with Zucker turned romantic during the pandemic.
“Jeff and I have been close friends and professional partners for over 20 years. Recently, our relationship changed during COVID. I regret that we didn’t disclose it at the right time. I’m incredibly proud of my time at CNN and look forward to continuing the great work we do everyday,” the statement said.
Couric wrote in her memoir, “Going There,” about Zucker’s relationship with Gollust before they both began working at CNN. Zucker became president of the company in 1998. Before that, Couric and Zucker were working for NBC. Couric wrote that “Jeff made a huge push to bring on” Gollust for the TODAY show, but they had already hired a PR person, Couric wrote. Zucker and Gollust were “joined at the hip,” her memoir said. Zucker orchestrated a meeting between Gollust and Couric after Couric told Zucker they did not have a job available for Gollust on TODAY, she wrote. At the meeting with Gollust, Couric said again that there was not a job available for Gollust.
Both Zucker and Gollust were married at the time, and Gollust’s family moved into an apartment above Zucker and his wife, Caryn Zucker, Couric wrote.
“I had to wonder why Jeff was angling so hard to bring Allison on board,” Couric wrote. “She and her husband and kids had moved into the apartment right about Jeff and Caryn’s–everyone who heard about the arrangement thought it was super-strange. By that point, Caryn had become a close friend and it made me really uncomfortable.”
These excerpts on Jeff Zucker and his mistress from Katie Couric’s book last year 👀👀👀👀
Couric wrote that later, Zucker was fired, and he asked Couric to put in a good word for him at CNN, which was looking for a new president. He said if she wanted it, there would be a job for her too, Couric wrote, paraphrasing a conversation from the late 1990s.
“On November 29th, Jeff was named president of CNN. His first hire? Allison Gollust,” Couric wrote. “Oh, and I never did hear from him about that job.”