Nate Silver, famed statistician and founder of FiveThirtyEight.com, announced Tuesday that he will be leaving ABC News as The Walt Disney Company continues to cut costs. “Disney layoffs have substantially impacted FiveThirtyEight,” Silver said in a tweet. “I am sad and disappointed to a degree that’s kind of hard to express right now. We’ve been at Disney almost 10 years. My contract is up soon and I expect that I’ll be leaving at the end of it.” Back in January, The Daily Beast reported that Silver was on ABC’s chopping block ahead of his contract expiration this summer. But ABC News will continue to hold onto his FiveThirtyEight brand with plans to streamline the site ahead of the 2024 presidential election. “ABC News remains dedicated to data journalism with a core focus on politics, the economy and enterprise reporting—this streamlined structure will allow us to be more closely aligned with our priorities for the 2024 election and beyond,” a spokesperson for ABC said in a statement obtained by Variety.
I had been worried about an outcome like this and so have had some great initial conversations about opportunities elsewhere. Don’t hesitate to get in touch. I am so proud of the work of FiveThirtyEight staff. It has never been easy. I’m so sorry to the people impacted by this.
