(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff Nick Ayers will not be taking over from John Kelly when the White House chief of staff steps down toward the end of the year, a White House official said.

Ayers and President Donald Trump weren’t able to come to terms on an agreement for Ayers to stay in the job for two years, the official said on Sunday. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ayers told Trump he couldn’t stay in the job for more than the first three months of next year, citing family commitments.

Ayers had emerged as a frontrunner to replace Kelly and was reported to have had months of discussions with the president, including recent travel on Air Force One.

@realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause. #Georgia

— Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018

To contact the reporters on this story: Polina Noskova in New York at pnoskova@bloomberg.net;Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chakradhar Adusumilli at cadusumilli@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Ros Krasny

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