Late-night television has one more opening: Craig Ferguson announced on his CBS show Monday night that he will leave “The Late Late Show” at the end of the year.

Mr. Ferguson, whose contract was scheduled to end at that time, took the issue into his own hands and informed CBS executives that he would make the announcement Monday night. Mr. Ferguson has been the host of the CBS 12:35 a.m. show since January 2005.

Mr. Ferguson said in a statement, “CBS and I are not getting divorced, we are ‘consciously uncoupling,’ but we will still spend holidays together and share custody of the fake horse and robot skeleton, both of whom we love very much,” referring to two favorite props on the show.

The move comes a little more than three weeks after David Letterman announced that he would be leaving his own 11:35 p.m. late-night show on CBS and concluding his late-night career at the end of his contract next year. CBS moved quickly to name his replacement, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report.”