Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight Will Be Separate Site On ESPN

Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight Will Be Separate Site On ESPN
AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 10: Nate Silver, Founder & President of fivethirtyeight.com speaks onstage at The Signal & The Noise during the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 10, 2013 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW)
AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 10: Nate Silver, Founder & President of fivethirtyeight.com speaks onstage at The Signal & The Noise during the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 10, 2013 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW)

It's official: Nate Silver confirmed on Monday that he's leaving the New York Times for ESPN.

Silver announced the move on Twitter, confirming the New York Times' report from Friday and additional details provided by Politico on Monday.

"Very excited to announce that FiveThirtyEight will be moving to @ESPN," he tweeted, adding:

The statistic whiz called the new role "his dream job" in a statement. Politico reported Monday that the FiveThirtyEight blog will be a separate site on ESPN with its own verticals “devoted to a variety of new topics,” including education, weather and economics.

New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan speculated on the reasoning behind the move. "I don’t think Nate Silver ever really fit into the Times culture and I think he was aware of that," she offered. "He was, in a word, disruptive... Nate disrupted the traditional model of how to cover politics."

Silver — who correctly predicted the winner in all 50 states during the 2012 presidential election — will be returning to sports, where he first made a name for himself in baseball statistics.

He will also appear on air and is expected to contribute to Keith Olbermann's new show, though no specific programs have been officially announced yet. He will do election forecasts for ABC News, as well. ESPN and ABC are both owned by Disney.

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Jill Abramson, executive editor

New York Times

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