Data guru Steve Kornacki is leaving MSNBC to stay with NBC News full-time, becoming the cable network’s first big exit as it severs its ties with 30 Rock. Famous for his friendly explanations of sometimes obtuse data points during election cycles, Kornacki will now become NBC’s chief data analyst and work across its news and sports divisions. Kornacki, 44, frequently appears on NBC’s Meet the Press, and he has also popped up on NBC’s sports broadcasts, including Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football along with its coverage of the Olympics and the Kentucky Derby. He was previously a national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC. The major exit comes as MSNBC and NBC separate their respective newsrooms as part of Comcast decision to spin off most of its cable networks. The decision has left the fates of multiple dual-role anchors, such as Today and Morning Joe mainstay Willie Geist, up in the air. MSNBC has also poached NBC News correspondent Antonia Hylton, another reporter with roles on both networks, to join the network full time and co-host its new panel show The Weekend: Primetime. Kornacki’s new deal will allow him to also take up roles on other networks so long as they do not intersect with politics and sports, according to the Los Angeles Times. Kornacki joined MSNBC in 2012 to co-host the panel show The Cycle before transitioning to host other shows. His star catapulted during the 2020 presidential election over his enthusiasm in sharing election results and polling data, leading People to name the khaki-sporting analyst one of its “Sexiest Men Alive” and a celebrity fan contingent that included Saturday Night Live alum Leslie Jones. MSNBC leaned into the obsession during the 2024 election, launching a “Kornacki Cam” on YouTube and Peacock that allowed hundreds of thousands of viewers to watch him crunch data in between commercial breaks. Since MSNBC and other cable networks were severed from Comcast and repackaged as a new company called SpinCo, new MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler has tried to beef up its own newsgathering operation. The left-leaning network canceled various shows, including those of Joy Reid, Jonathan Capehart, and Katie Phang, while promoting Jen Psaki and its current anchors of The Weekend to primetime. The network is also hiring 100 journalists and poached Politico journalist Eugene Daniels and Washington Post reporter Jacqueline Alemany to host another new weekend show with Capehart.