ABC News president David Westin stepping down

NEW YORK (AP) - ABC News President David Westin says he’s stepping down at the end of the year after more than 13 years on the job.

Westin said in a memo to his staff on Monday that he told his bosses a month ago that he was ready to leave. A lawyer with little background in news, he took over in 1997 from television legend Roone Arledge and guided the news division through major changes.

ABC has been through a series of painful staff cuts during a dispiriting time in the news business, with the organization’s staffing sliced by 25 percent in the past few years. In the past year he’s installed new top anchors at several of ABC’s broadcasts: “World News,” “Good Morning America” and “This Week.”

Westin just turned 58. He told ABC and parent Walt Disney Co. chiefs Anne Sweeney and Bob Iger that he’d help with a transition over the next few months. He has not said what he will do next.

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