Lester Holt is saying good night to NBC Nightly News.
The longtime journalist, 66, emotionally signed off May 30 after more than a decade on the show.
“Before we go tonight, a word about me,” he shared on the broadcast. “You may recall the announcement back some months ago that I would be leaving my post here at Nightly News in order to expand my role as host of Dateline. Well, today is that day. After 10 years, this is my last nightly news broadcast.”
Holt went on to reflect on his legacy.
“As anchor, it has been an honor to lead this program and an honor to be welcomed into your homes,” he continued. “I’m so grateful for your trust. Around here, facts matter, words matter, journalism matters and you matter. Over the last decade, we have shared some dark and harrowing days and nights from our country—the pandemic, mass shootings, natural disasters—each testing our resilience and our compassion. That’s why I often like to leave you with something to smile about, moments that reassure and connect us.”
He then thanked his behind-the-scenes team, welcoming out the crew that makes his show possible.
“I’ll miss our evenings together, and I will miss the team that puts it all together, my dear friends and my colleagues,” Holt explained. “But for now, I just want to say thank you to my incredibly supportive and patient family, and all of you.”
Holt—who married Carol Hagen in 1982—additionally wished his successor Tom Llamas “great success” when his show premieres Monday.
He concluded his message with his signature optimism: “I’ll see you on Dateline. In the meantime, please continue to take care of yourself and each other. And I’ll do the same.”
In February, Holt announced his plan to step back from his position and shift to a full-time role at Dateline, where he has served as a principal anchor for almost 15 years, starting in 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,” Lester wrote in a note to staff of both series, shared by NBC News, at the time. “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.”
He added of his journey, “What an amazing ride.”
Shortly after his announcement, Holt’s Today colleagues including Savannah Guthrie and Dylan Dreyer reflected on time spent with their co-anchor.
“Congrats to @lesterholtnbc on an amazing decade and the new chapter about to unfold!” Guthrie wrote alongside on Instagram a photo of her working with Holt during last November’s presidential election coverage. “I’m grateful for getting to share so many historic moments right by your side – always, always the class act.”
As for Dreyer, she thanked Holt for making her “feel so comfortable” after she joined Today’s third hour in 2012.
“It has been a true honor to work and grow alongside him from then, to hurricane coverage, to @nbcnightlynews, to fun experiments on @nightlykids,” the 43-year-old host wrote on social media alongside photos of the duo. “A true professional, an incredible interviewer, anchor [and] friend. Congratulations on this next phase of your inspirational career!”
Keep reading for a closer look at the Today show family…
(E!, NBC News and Today are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Sheinelle Jones
The cohost of the third hour of Today shares son Kayin as well as twins Uche and Clara with her late husband Uche Ojeh, who passed away in May 2025 after a courageous battle with brain cancer.
“With all three of my children, I try to show them that they’re ALL a team, and they have to take care of each other,” Sheinelle wrote in a 2015 essay for Today. “At the same time, I’m learning that they each like to know they’re special on their own.”
Craig Melvin
Three years after the anchor married fellow broadcaster Lindsay Czarniak in 2011, he earned his most cherished title yet: father.
And now, he seizes every opportunity to gush about their son Delano and daughter Sybil.
“When I wake up in the morning,” Melvin said to his son during a May 2024 episode of Today, “part of the reason I work so hard is for you and your sister.”
Jenna Bush Hager
The Today with Jenna & Friends cohost and her husband Henry Hager are proud parents to kids Mila, Poppy and Hal.
As she put it during a March 2025 episode of the morning show, “I’m pretty sure I’ve come to terms that three, even though it’s an imperfect number, it’s the perfect number for our household.”
Hoda Kotb
“Another Halloween in the books,” wrote the former host as she celebrated the day with her daughter Haley Joy.
She is also mom to daughter Hope Catherine.
Lester Holt
The former NBC Nightly News anchor shares sons Stefan Holt and Cameron Holt with his wife Carol Hagen.
But more recently, he became a proud “granddude” to three grandchildren: Henry, Samuel and James.
“When my daughter-in-law was pregnant with her first baby … she said, ‘Well, what do you guys want to be called?’” Holt said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2021. “I said, ‘I think I want to be ‘Granddude’ because ‘grand,’ it bows to the fact that I’m older. But ‘dude’ says, ‘I still got a little bit. I still got a little,’ you know?”
Carson Daly
In 2020, the anchor and his wife Siri Pinter welcomed their fourth child, Goldie. The little one joined the couple’s older kids Jackson, Etta and London.
Kathie Lee
Hoda’s former cohost is a loving mommy to her own two children, Cassidy Gifford and Cody Gifford, with her late husband Frank Gifford.
Savannah Guthrie
The TV personality is a mom to two little ones, Vale Guthrie Feldman and Charles “Charley” Max Feldman, with her husband Mike Feldman.
Al Roker
The anchor and his wife Deborah Roberts are parents to Leila Roker and Nicholas Albert Roker.
Willie Geist
The anchor of Sunday Today has been married to his wife Christina Geist since 2003. They’re parents to two children, George William Geist and Lucie Joy Geist.
