Tamron Hall departs NBC and MSNBC

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Tamron Hall is departing NBC and MSNBC, the anchor and network announced Wednesday.

"Tamron is an exceptional journalist, we valued and enjoyed her work at Today and MSNBC and hoped that she would decide to stay," NBC News said in a statement.

"We are disappointed that she has chosen to leave, but we wish her all the best."

"The last 10 years have been beyond anything I could have imagined, and I'm grateful," Hall added. "I'm also very excited about the next chapter. To all my great colleagues, I will miss you and I will be rooting for you."

Hall was serving as co-anchor of the 9 a.m. hour on Today alongside Al Roker. Her contract was set to expire in February the New York Times reported.

Hall's exit comes as NBC announced plans to remove Today's 9 a.m. hour in order to make room for incoming anchor Megyn Kelly, who joined the network after leaving Fox News.

Roker is expected to continue hosting the 9 a.m. slot until the fall when Kelly's program will debut.

In addition to Hall, Today's weekday lineup has lost Natalie Morales, Willie Geist and Billy Bush following his involvement in an Access Hollywood taping with now President Trump in 2005 in which the hotel mogul was heard making remarks about groping women.