Brian Williams To Depart NBC And MSNBC After 28-Year Career

Brian Williams is departing from MSNBC and NBC News, both divisions of Comcast Corporation CMCSA at the end of the year.

What Happened: Deadline reported that news of Williams’ exit from the networks was announced in a staff memo from MSNBC President Rashida Jones, who acknowledged his “nearly three decades as an award-winning journalist and anchor” and said his departure was based on his desire “to take the coming months to spend time with his family.”

“He will be signing off from ‘The 11th Hour’ at the end of the year,” added Jones, referring to the Williams’ show broadcast weeknights at 11 p.m. EST on MSNBC.

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Why It Happened: Williams’ 28-year career with the NBC platforms began in 1993. In 2004, he succeeded Tom Brokaw as the anchor of the “NBC Nightly News,” but in February 2015 he was suspended for six months without pay following revelations that he repeatedly told a false story he was under an attack by Iraqi militia while covering the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Williams apologized for his actions but never regained the coveted anchor chair, which was assigned to Lester Holt. Williams re-emerged on MSNBC in September 2015 to anchor its coverage of Pope Francis’ trip to the U.S. In September 2016, he premiered “The 11th Hour.”

Williams’ contract was set to expire next month. In a statement from Williams obtained by the New York Times, Williams reflected that his decision marked “the end of a chapter and the beginning of another. There are many things I want to do, and I’ll pop up again somewhere.”

Photo: MSNBC