WebProNews

Feedster is expected to announce tomorrow that company president Chris Redlitz is leaving the blog and syndicated content engine to join a startup company to launch later this month. He will be replaced with Tyler Goldman, formerly of Movielink, as the company restructures its team with new talent.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the company is also expected to announce that it has closed a new round of funding, continuing the backing of Rob Hayes of Omidyar Network, Japanese search partner Mitsui, as well as a new Chinese partner. Added to the list of investors is former Google employee Aydin Senkut, who was once in charge of Google's strategic syndication business in the Asia-Pacific region.

Redlitz denied rumors of layoffs and struggles within the company citing the new funding the company had procured and Feedster's aggressive maneuvering into the Asian market. He implied that the company's recent off-shoring and restructuring may have been confused with downsizing and financial troubles.

"Feedster has changed the structure of the organization to include an Australian development team. This is a group that came in with Brent Whitney, the VP of engineering," he said. "Brent has a great background in building scalable systems and using outsourced talent."

A source familiar with the Feedster's restructuring told WebProNews that Whitney's Australian recruits were part of a small team with PhD pedigrees brought in to work "on the spam problem." The source also said that because of competition in the United States, and especially around Silicon Valley, Feedster was forced to look abroad for talent.

" There are some pretty sexy search companies in our neighborhood and it's difficult to recruit," said the source. Google especially has had a reputation for attracting the top talent in the industry, luring them even away from Microsoft.

Redlitz did not disclose the name of the startup company he would join, but indicated that it would be in the realm of media and advertising, which matches his background.

" I have been with the company two years, and brought in new talent to carry through with the original vision of quality search and syndication," he said.

"I continually seek new opportunities around media and advertising, and the new company that I am joining is on the forefront of both. This is part of Silicon Valley and the start up environment. Change is constant."

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Jason L. Miller is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.