Nate Silver To Depart ABC News As Disney Layoffs Continue

Ted Johnson
·2 min read
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Nate Silver is departing ABC News as the news division continues a round of layoffs that began last month.

The FiveThirtyEight founder wrote on Twitter: “Disney layoffs have substantially impacted FiveThirtyEight. 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.

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“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.”

The news division began a phased rollout of job reductions in late March, impacting about 50 people total.

FiveThirtyEight editor Chadwick Matlin also was among those being laid off. Matlin wrote on Twitter: “I’ve spent 9.5 years at FiveThirtyEight, but won’t make it 10. I was laid off today as part of Disney’s cuts. My colleagues and I built a website out of nothing, and journalism changed because of it. There are worse legacies. More reflections to come once things shake out.”

The network will retain the FiveThirtyEight brand, with plans to operate it with a different organizational structure for the 2024 campaign cycle.

An ABC News spokesperson said, “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. We are grateful for the invaluable contributions of the team members who will be departing the organization and know they will continue to make an important impact on the future of journalism.”  

FiveThirtyEight was founded in 2008, and it became an online destination for political polling gurus and a general audience as elections approached. Silver brought the blog to ESPN in 2013, and it was moved to ABC News in 2018.

Disney has been going through rounds of layoffs in recent weeks, with plans to eliminate 7,000 positions.

The first phase of the layoffs on March 30 saw the departure of a number of senior executives as ABC News President Kim Godwin restructured her leadership team.

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