FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver is exiting ABC News as The Walt Disney Company ramps up layoffs, Variety has confirmed.
ABC News will hold onto the FiveThirtyEight brand with plans to streamline the statistics-driven news and analysis site. The network plans to create a more efficient structure for FiveThirtyEight leading into the 2024 presidential election and beyond.
Silver sent a message to his team in a company Slack channel warning that the Disney layoffs would impact FiveThirtyEight, and that Silver is not planning to return after his contract ends.
Silver said in a tweet, “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.”
He continued, “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.”
In a statement obtained by Variety, a spokesperson for ABC 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.”
Founded in 2008, FiveThirtyEight became a licensed feature of The New York Times’ website and was renamed FiveThirtyEight: Nate Silver’s Political Calculus. ESPN acquired the brand in 2013 before it moved over to Disney sister company ABC News in 2018.
Using Silver’s unique statistical methodology, FiveThirtyEight compiled polling data and published articles analyzing the data as it pertained to sports, economics, current events and political issues.
The Hollywood Reporter was first to report the news.
