Brian Williams says he is leaving NBC after 28 years with the network

Brian Williams announced Tuesday that he will be leaving NBC, where he was once the network’s nightly news anchor before a scandal cost him his job.

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Williams, who landed a nightly talk show on MSNBC after losing the anchor position, has been with the network for 28 years.

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According to The New York Times, Williams told colleagues that he intended to step down from his show “The 11th Hour” at the end of the year when his contract with the network expires.

“Following much reflection, and after 28 years with the company, I have decided to leave NBC upon the completion of my current contract in December,” Mr. Williams wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “I have been truly blessed. I have been allowed to spend almost half of my life with one company. NBC is a part of me and always will be.”

Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC, wrote in a note to staff on Tuesday that Williams “has informed us he would like to take the coming months to spend time with his family.”

“We and our viewers will miss his penetrating questions and thoughtful commentary,” she wrote.

In 2015, Williams’ tenure as lead anchor for the network on NBC’s “Nightly News” was cut short when he was found to have exaggerated his role in some stories.

Williams apologized on air for telling an account of a 2003 helicopter mission during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Williams had told the story several times, and at first, told it correctly, that a helicopter that was traveling ahead of his was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Later, Williams said he was on the helicopter that was struck.

Other stories Williams told began to be called into question and he was suspended for six months. Eventually, he was replaced as lead anchor by Lester Holt.

Williams was then moved to MSNBC where he hosted the news talk show “The 11th Hour.”

“This is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another,” Williams told his colleagues. “There are many things I want to do, and I’ll pop up again somewhere.”

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