"I want to thank Rick for his service to MSNBC," NBC News president Steve Capus said in a message to MSNBC employees at 4pm. "Over the last two and a half years, Rick has been a tireless champion for the network and all the hard work you do each and every day. He has led MSNBC through a period of impressive growth especially in primetime. You, the staff at MSNBC, are enormously dedicated and have built a rock-solid foundation for our future growth. MSNBC has been and continues to be an enormously important asset in the NBC News portfolio.

Soon, I will have an announcement for all of you about MSNBC's new leadership. During this period of transition I will call on the department heads at MSNBC to manage their respective units and report to me."

In an e-mail to all NBC Universal employees, Capus said "the message of this day is a continued commitment by everyone at MSNBC to excellence. The channel has some real momentum behind it now - and we intend to build upon that foundation for an extremely bright future."