AP
Lester Holt is leaving “NBC Nightly News.”
The journalist announced his departure in a memo on Monday after a decade spent anchoring the show.
He reflected on his “amazing ride” in a letter to “Nightly” and “Dateline” staffers.
“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,” he wrote.
“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,” the anchor concluded.
While Holt did not specify the date of his departure, he is expected to step down in the beginning of summer.
His successor has yet to be named.
Holt will reportedly maintain a full-time role at “Dateline,” where he has been a principal anchor since September 2011.
After 19 years with CBS, Holt joined NBC in 2003 as a substitute anchor for “Nightly” and “Today,” as well as a co-anchor for “Weekend Today.”
He began anchoring the weekend edition of “Nightly” in 2007 before taking over late Brian Williams’ weekday role in June 2015.
NBC News’ executive vice president of programming, Janelle Rodrigez, praised Holt in a letter to staff members.
“He has led the network during some of the country’s most fraught and challenging times in the past decade,” she wrote.
Rodriguez went on to call her colleague “the beating heart of this news organization.”
This is a developing story.