Longtime NBC Nightly News Anchor Steps Down

Lester Holt, the longtime host of “NBC Nightly News,” has stepped down.

Holt, will not leave NBC News altogether but will still host “Dateline NBC.”

NBC News executive vice president of programming Janelle Rodriguez, shared, “Quite simply, Lester is the beating heart of this news organization.”

She added, “He’s earned deep respect and reverence from our newsroom, industry colleagues and, most importantly, viewers.”

🚨BREAKING: Lester Holt is stepping down from his anchor chair at NBC “Nightly News.” pic.twitter.com/4JwALEUxHR

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 24, 2025

Check out what CNN reported:

Lester Holt, the trusted face of “NBC Nightly News” for the past decade, is stepping down from the newscast this summer.

Holt will continue to host “Dateline NBC,” the network’s prime time newsmagazine.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Quite simply, Lester is the beating heart of this news organization,” NBC News executive vice president of programming Janelle Rodriguez said in an internal memo on Monday. “He’s earned deep respect and reverence from our newsroom, industry colleagues and, most importantly, viewers.”

When Holt was elevated to the job in 2015, he was the first African-American solo anchor of a weekday network nightly newscast.

While broadcast TV audiences have declined in recent years, the nightly newscasts on NBC, ABC and CBS can still draw a combined 20 million viewers on a good night.

ABC’s “World News Tonight,” led by David Muir, who has been in the chair since 2014, averaged 7.6 million viewers in the fourth quarter of last year. Holt’s “Nightly News” averaged 6.1 million viewers.

The “CBS Evening News,” which averaged 4.5 million viewers, recently went through its own anchor transition, with Norah O’Donnell departing the newscast and two anchors, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, taking the helm.

Lester Holt leaving ‘NBC Nightly News’ after a decade https://t.co/yjVcC10aSP pic.twitter.com/mrhnQ6lCq5

— New York Post (@nypost) February 24, 2025

Per The New York Post:

Lester Holt, anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News,” revealed Monday he is stepping down from the long-running broadcast after a decade reporting from the evening news desk.

Holt will stay with NBC in a full-time role at “Dateline,” where has been the principal anchor for nearly 15 years, according to a memo shared with staffers.

NBC News did not immediately announce a successor.

ADVERTISEMENT