Fox Corp. FOX, +2.13% FOXA, +1.90% said late Friday that Shepard Smith, the chief news anchor of Fox News Channel, was leaving the network after 23 years. He'd been a fixture at the network since its inception in 1996 and has been the presenter of the "Shepard Smith Reporting" program. Smith, 55, had recently broken with other program hosts on the network in his critical reporting on the Trump White House. He announced his departure on the air Friday, saying the show was his last. "Recently I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News and begin a new chapter," Smith said in a statement. "After requesting that I stay, they graciously obliged." Fox News said a rotating series of anchors would take Smith's place.