Hoda Kotb is planning to step down as co-anchor of NBC’s “Today” show sometime next year, and will continue in a different role at the network where she has worked for 26 years.
Kotb announced the news on Thursday’s program, saying she will exit the role in early 2025. Kotb has co-anchored “Today” with Savannah Guthrie since 2018, and has been a correspondent and anchor with NBC News since 1998.
“As I write this, my heart is all over the map,” Kotb wrote in a memo to staff. “I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show.”
She called her time at NBC “the longest professional love affair of my life. But only because you’ve been beside me on this twenty-six-year adventure. Looking back, the math is nuts.”
In her 26 years at NBC News, Kotb spent 10 at “Dateline,” seven on the 7 a.m. “Today” hour and 16 on the 10 a.m. hour. She helped launch the show’s fourth hour alongside Kathie Lee Gifford and Jenna Bush Hager.
Kotb did not specify what her new role at NBC would be.
“Happily and gratefully, I plan to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest work relationship I’ve been lucky enough to hold close to my heart,” she wrote. “I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine.”
