FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver is exiting ABC News as Disney ramps up layoff. 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.
Famed statistics guru Nate Silver and his website FiveThirtyEight are on the “chopping block,” as ABC News looks to cut costs. A decision on the future of the famed politics, economics, and sports analysis website is set to be made by the summer when Silver’s contract is up, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation.
Digital journalism’s data guru Nate Silver, founder of the FiveThirtyEight blog, told attendees at the Online News Association’s annual conference on Friday that they need to get over their fear of statistics and to apply better objectivity when they do use them.
Exclusives
Nate Silver, the statistician who attained national fame for his accurate projections about the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, is parting ways with The New York Times and moving to ESPN, according to ESPN employees with direct knowledge of his plans. At ESPN, Silver is expected to have a wide-ranging portfolio. Along with his writing and number-crunching, he will most likely be a regular contributor to Olbermann, the late-night ESPN2 talk show hosted by Keith Olbermann that will have its debut at the end of August. In political years, he will also have a role at ABC News, which, like ESPN, is owned by Disney.
