This is the best summary I could come up with:

LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The director of the British Museum said on Friday he would step down after admitting to failings in its investigation into the theft of items from its collection.

Hartwig Fischer, a German art historian who had led the museum since 2016, said there could have been a better response to warnings that an employee may have been stealing items and the failings "must ultimately" rest with him.

The British Museum initially said in the statement that Fischer would step down "with immediate effect", but later removed those words and said he would be resign once an interim leader had been found.

Fischer said that he withdrew remarks made about the art dealer who first alerted museum bosses to the stolen items.

Earlier this week, Fischer said Ittai Gradel, an antiquities dealer, withheld information about the scale of the stolen items when he contacted the museum.

The museum's board of trustees, chaired by former British finance minister George Osborne, accepted Fischer's resignation.

The original article contains 289 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 43%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!