Veteran host Brian Williams leaves NBC after 28 years

By Tim Stelloh -

Host of our sister network MSNBC and former host and director of

, Brian Williams, will leave NBC at the end of the year to "spend time with his family," MSNBC President Rashida Jones said Tuesday.

In his farewell to colleagues, Williams took stock of some of his achievements: "Twenty-eight years, 38 countries, eight coverage of the Olympic Games, seven presidential elections, half a dozen presidents, a few wars and a 'Saturday Night Live." .

[Journalist Cristina Londoño reacts to her Emmy award: "This coverage defined my career"]

Good friends abounded on NBC.

I was fortunate that everyone I worked with made me better at my job, ”wrote Williams, 62.

In an email, Jones said Williams published "countless" big stories and attracted top journalists to his shows. 

In 2015, when he was the host of the

, Williams was suspended by the network for six months after he told an inaccurate story about his helicopter being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Brian Williams will be leaving 'The 11th Hour', the show he hosts on MSNBC, at the end of the year.

He admitted on the air that he had "made a mistake in remembering the events of 12 years ago."

Following the suspension, Williams moved to MSNBC, where he subsequently released

.

[The moving account of the journalist who saw when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon in 2001]

"My comeback years later was my choice, as was releasing 'The 11th Hour' of which I am as proud as of the decade I spent hosting 'Nightly News," Williams explained in his statement.

"I wanted it to be called 'The 11th Hour' (it was late in the 2016 campaign), and I wanted it to air at 11pm ET."

“I ask everyone in our loyal audience to remain loyal.

will remain in good hands, produced by the best cable news team. ”

Williams did not announce his plans but said he had a lot to do and hoped he would "show up again somewhere."