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Lester Holt has announced that he is stepping down after a decade of serving as the anchor and manager of NBC Nightly News. The acclaimed journalist will step down from his current role on the long-running broadcast at the start of the summer but will continue to be a fixture of the broader NBC network. According to a memo shared with the network’s staff, Holt will continue his full-time role on Dateline, for which he has served as the principal anchor for almost 15 years.
🚨BREAKING: Lester Holt is stepping down from his anchor chair at NBC “Nightly News.” pic.twitter.com/4JwALEUxHR
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 24, 2025
While NBC News hasn’t announced Holt’s successor, it brings a close to his long-running stint on the Nightly News broadcast, which he first joined in 2015. Before that, he was the anchor of the program’s weekend edition for eight years, and co-anchored Weekend TODAY for 12 years. In a note to colleagues on Monday, Holt wrote: “A smile comes to my face when I think that with Nightly News, and Dateline, I have now anchored two of the most successful and iconic television news programs in broadcast history,”
“As a 20-year-old radio reporter on the police beat chasing breaking news around San Francisco, I could never have imagined my career path would unfold in the way it has. What an amazing ride.” Given the sheer longevity of his career, Holt’s coverage has extended over everything from the political rise of President Donald Trump to the Covid pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the war in Gaza. By extension, Holt’s various interviews have often set the news agenda, and include Trump, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Finally, we get you all to ourselves, @LesterHoltNBC!
Oh, and we don’t just have banana pudding for send-offs.
We have it every day, just ‘cause.
❤️ #Dateline
Read more: https://t.co/MxgExLqpb9 pic.twitter.com/3SnqVDoMMc— Dateline NBC (@DatelineNBC) February 24, 2025
Janelle Rodriguez, executive vice president of programming for NBC News, said Holt “has led the network during some of the country’s most fraught and challenging times in the past decade,” and described him as “the beating heart of this news organization.” Holt is one of multiple notable senior journalists to have departed from their networks in recent months, due to both the rise of streaming and the harsh climate for media outlets in the early days of the second Trump administration.
Lester Holt’s email to staff this morning announcing his decision to leave nightly news https://t.co/iFscn4O7rT pic.twitter.com/NCoqJKgdKf
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) February 24, 2025
Chuck Todd, the veteran political director and former Meet the Press moderator, left NBC News in January, and so too did Hoda Kotb of Today. Andrea Mitchell, Chris Wallis, and Fox News veteran Neil Cavuto are among the other reporters who have left their positions in recent weeks. For his part, Jim Acosta announced his departure from CNN late last month, but not without getting in a quick swipe at the president on his way out. Trump has yet to comment on Holt’s resignation, but given his administration’s disdain for the free press, and his obsessive TV-watching habits, we wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already drafting a response on Truth Social.