Ann Curry is reportedly leaving NBC News to start her own production company. Variety claims an official announcement will be released later today.

Curry was the news anchor on Today from 1997 until 2011, when she was named co-anchor alongside Matt Lauer following Meredith Vieira’s decision to leave the show. Curry and Lauer never quite seemed to meld, and Ann had a hard time transitioning from hard news to lighter stories–as happens on the morning news shows.

NBC handled the firing of Ann Curry from her Today post in a most inappropriate manner. Many believed Matt Lauer was behind her firing, but that was never backed up. Nonetheless the show lost lots of viewers when Ann left, and they have never regained their number one morning news show spot. That was quickly usurped by Good Morning America. They have held the title since then.

Variety says Ann Curry will soon start her own production company, and they site a person ‘familiar with the situation’ as their source.

Since Curry was fired from Today, she served as a special news correspondent from time to time and occasionally appeared on Dateline NBC.

Ann Curry to exit NBC News for good http://t.co/llmWqZn3Hy

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 13, 2015

An NBC insider told Fox News, “Ann has been unhappy for a long time because she’s basically doing nothing, while NBC is unhappy that she has been paid a lot of money to do nothing.”

Hopefully once out on her own, Ann Curry can utilize her many talents to their fullest extent.

Does word of Ann Curry leaving NBC News come as a surprise to you?

It will be interesting to learn how NBC responds.