The veteran journalist, 65, reflected on the “amazing ride” he’s had during his two decades at the network in a memo to staffers

NBC Nightly News and Dateline anchor Lester Holt poses for photos on the Nightly News set, at NBC headquarters, in New York, Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Photo: AP Photo/Richard DrewThe shakeups to nightly news keep coming.

On Monday, Feb. 24, longtime NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt announced he would be exiting the show this summer after more than 10 years.

In a memo to Nightly and Dateline staff, the 65-year-old 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.”

Holt took over as anchor of Nightly News in June 2015 following Brian Williams’ exit, and the network’s executive vice president of programming Janelle Rodriguez said of his more than two decades at NBC: “He has led the network during some of the country’s most fraught and challenging times in the past decade. Quite simply, Lester is the beating heart of this news organization.”

News anchor Lester Holt poses on the MSNBC set in Secaucus, N.J., April 15, 2003.AP Photo/Brian Branch-Price 

News of Holt’s exit comes amidst a slew of similar departures at other networks in the weeks since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Holt’s NBC colleague Chuck Todd similarly surprised viewers as he announced his abrupt departure from the network on Jan. 31 after nearly two decades. He said in a memo to staffers that he was “pretty excited” about a “few new projects” in the works, and called his time at NBC, which included anchoring Meet the Press for nine years, the “honor of a lifetime,”

Days earlier, Jim Acosta signed off of CNN abruptly, ending an 18-year tenure with the network that reportedly stemmed from an internal clash over the timeslot for his show.

Lester Holt is pictured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty 

Another nightly news shake-up came on Feb. 7 as MSNBC vet Andrea Mitchell took her final bow on Andrea Mitchell Reports after nearly 17 years. Her exit had been announced in October, though, as the daily show revealed its plans to conclude.

“After sixteen years of being in the anchor chair every day, I want time to do more of what I love the most: connecting, listening, and reporting in the field, especially as whoever is elected next week is going to undertake the monumental task of handling two foreign wars and the political divisions here at home,” Mitchell, 78, said at the time.