Hoda Kotb is leaving NBC's today – Watch her emotional announcement

Hoda Kotb, co-host of the NBC show Today for more than six years, has announced that she will leave the morning news program in early 2025.

An emotional Kotb announced the news on Thursday Today show, with reference to the desire to spend more time with her family. How she Today Colleagues: “I had my children late in life and thought they deserved a bigger piece of my time pie. We only have a limited amount of time.”

Kotb noted that she Today “after the first of the year” and plans to “remain in the NBC family,” but noted that “this is the right time for me to move on.” You can watch her full announcement via the video embedded above.

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He expressed similar views in a letter to Today staff on Thursday, where Kotb wrote, “I've been weighing this decision for quite a while – am I really ready? But my 60th birthday party on the Plaza felt like a turning point. Like a huge, joyful YES, you are! I saw everything so clearly: My career as a presenter has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life is ahead of me, and now my daughters and mom need and deserve a bigger piece of my time pie. I'm going to miss you all terribly, but I'm ready and excited.”

Kotb has worked in various capacities at NBC News since 1998, when she began as a national correspondent and Date line Contributors. Your term of office at Today dates back to 2008, when she began co-hosting the show's fourth hour with Kathie Lee Gifford (a role she still holds on the show, now alongside Jenna Bush Hager). In November 2017, Kotb began filling in at the main anchor desk after Matt Lauer was fired following allegations of sexual misconduct. She was promoted to full-time co-host in early 2018, and she and Savannah Guthrie have hosted the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. portion of the show since then.

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