MSNBC taps Stephanie Ruhle to succeed Brian Williams as ‘11th Hour’ host

MSNBC’s daytime host Stephanie Ruhle is moving to late night where she will take over the NBCUniversal-owned cable news channel’s “The 11th Hour.”

Ruhle, who is also senior business analyst for NBC News, will occupy the 11 p.m. Eastern time slot vacated by Brian Williams, who chose not to sign a new deal with MSNBC at the end of last year. Staffers were informed of the move Thursday in a memo from MSNBC President Rashida Jones.

Ruhle, 46, is currently a 9 a.m anchor on “Stephanie Ruhle Reports.” Her time slot will be absorbed by the Beltway-focused “Morning Joe,” hosted by Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist, which expands to four hours.

Jones did not give a specific date on when the changes will take effect. She still has to determine how to fill the 9 p.m. slot held down by its biggest attraction, Rachel Maddow.

Maddow has a new deal with NBCUniversal, but is expected to give up her role as a daily prime-time program anchor in the first half of this year. MSNBC has not announced any specific timetable for the change.

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Ruhle joined MSNBC in 2016 after a five-year stint at Bloomberg Television. She had a career in finance before she became a TV journalist.

“The 11th Hour” was launched in 2016 to handle the high volume of late-breaking political news generated by the presidential campaign and later out of the Trump White House.

The program helped restore the career of Williams, who moved to MSNBC from his role as anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” following a suspension for making false on-air statements about his reporting during the Iraq war. Williams left NBC News in December after a 26-year run and has yet to announce his next career move.