Election data guru Nate Silver appears to have been caught up in the current wave of layoffs at The Walt Disney Co., telling members of the FiveThirtyEight research unit via Slack Tuesday that he'll be leaving when his contract expires — “soon.”
ABC News will reportedly hang on to the research company Silver built, which will of course be useful for the 2024 national election.
Disney’s ESPN unit acquired FiveThirtyEight back in 2013, and the asset was eventually moved to ABC News.
“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,” ABC News said in a statement. “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.”
