Ben Ling was quoted after Mark Zuckerberg in Facebook’s most recent press release.  He wrote the company’s second-newest official blog entry.  And now the director of platform program management seems ready to work for someone else.

 Benjamin Ling

Ling, who left Google for Facebook about ten months ago, will be moving on again within the next few weeks.  Due to the short period of time Ling spent with the social network, don’t count on him having profited from the stock option-selling rush.  Retirement off a normal salary isn’t in the cards, either, as he’s rather young and spoke in vague terms to Kara Swisher about "a great opportunity."

So is some new Web 2.0 company on the verge of becoming big?  Another possibility: a struggling one just came up with a large amount of cash.  Regardless, Ling was careful to say that his departure isn’t Facebook’s fault, and didn’t drop any more clues.

As for Facebook, the social network’s product line and release schedule shouldn’t be affected by Ling’s departure.  A replacement has not yet been named.

We’ll keep an eye out to see what happens there and where Ling lands.