Lester Holt, the anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News” for a decade, announced Monday that he is stepping down from the long-running broadcast at the beginning of the summer.
Holt will continue to be a fixture at the network with a full-time role at “Dateline,” where he has been the principal anchor for almost 15 years, according to a memo shared with network staff Monday.
NBC News did not immediately name Holt’s successor.
Holt was named anchor of “Nightly News” in June 2015 after steering weekend editions of the news broadcast for eight years and co-anchoring “Weekend TODAY” for 12 years. He has served as principal anchor of “Dateline” since September 2011.
“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,” Holt wrote in a note Monday to “Nightly” and “Dateline” staffers. “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.”
In his 10 years at the helm of “Nightly News,” Holt covered the defining events of the era, including the political rise of President Donald Trump, the Covid pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel and the war in Gaza.
In recent months, Holt co-anchored the network’s coverage of election night, traveled to Iran for an exclusive interview with President Masoud Pezeshkian and helmed a “Dateline” special about the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.
Holt’s interviews with world leaders regularly made headlines and set the news agenda. He spoke one-on-one with Trump, former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other key figures.
Holt frequently traveled to areas hit by deadly hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and mass shootings.
“He has led the network during some of the country’s most fraught and challenging times in the past decade,” Janelle Rodriguez, executive vice president of programming for NBC News, wrote in a message to staff. “Quite simply, Lester is the beating heart of this news organization.”
He has been named the “most-trusted television news personality in America” two consecutive times, according to polls from The Hollywood Reporter and Morning Consult. “Nightly News” is consistently a top television show each week, averaging around 7 million viewers.
Holt also anchors “Nightly News: Kids Edition,” an Emmy-nominated digital newscast geared toward informing and educating children.
Holt, who joined NBC News in 2000, took the helm of “Nightly News” from veteran broadcaster Brian Williams, who exited the show after drawing intense criticism for embellishing the details of a helicopter attack in Iraq. Holt was named permanent anchor of the flagship program on June 18, 2015.
Holt arrived at the network after more than a decade at the WBBM-TV station in Chicago, where he served as the afternoon and evening news anchor. He started his television journalism career as a reporter at WCBS-TV in New York in 1981. The following year, Holt moved to Los Angeles to report for KCBS-TV (then known as KNXT) before heading back to WCBS in 1984.
He has received various industry honors, including Emmy Awards and, in 2019, the esteemed Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.
