AOL and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington have officially parted ways, at least on an employer/employee basis, though the company will continue in its investment in Arrington’s “CrunchFund” . The official statement from AOL as posted on TechCrunch:
“The TechCrunch acquisition has been a success for AOL and for our shareholders, and we are very excited about its future. Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch has decided to move on from TechCrunch and AOL to his newly formed venture fund. Michael is a world-class entrepreneur and we look forward to supporting his new endeavor through our investment in his venture fund. Erick Schonfeld has been named the editor of TechCrunch. TechCrunch will be expanding its editorial leadership in the coming months.”
It’s worth noting that the TechCrunch post which shares this statement uses quotations aren’t “Deciding” in the title “‘Deciding’ to Move On”.
@erickschonfeld
Erick SchonfeldHonored and humbled to be taking the full reins at Techcrunch.
20 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
Some other TechCrunch writer responses:
@paulcarr
Paul Carr“A statement from AOL”. Ugh. Just fucking UGH. http://t.co/mmHtmBi 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
@paulcarr
Paul CarrI would need 1000 tweets to unpack the bullshit from that statement. 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
@mikebutcher
Mike ButcherWell, there you go RT @TechCrunch: “Deciding” To Move On http://t.co/QdddAnQ 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
@jasonkincaid
Jason KincaidThanks for everything, Mike. RT @TechCrunch: “Deciding” To Move On http://t.co/HZB1Icr 1 hour ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
@alexia
Alexia TsotsisUnpaid Blogger http://t.co/y0kpeJD 1 hour ago via Instagram · powered by @socialditto
@robinwauters
Robin WautersReally sad @arrington will no longer be part of @techcrunch but @erickschonfeld will be an awesome editor. Sad day, however. #tcdisrupt 1 hour ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto
@LeenaRao
Leena K. RaoReally going to miss @arrington. Learned so much from him over last 2 years. And excited to work under the leadership of @erickschonfeld! 1 hour ago via Seesmic · powered by @socialditto
Kara Swisher has posted yet another leaked internal company memo, this from AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. The part about TechCrunch reads:
“Finally, I’d like to announce that Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, has decided to move on from TechCrunch and AOL to his newly formed venture fund. TechCrunch continues to be a part of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group. AOL will maintain its initial investment in Michael Arrington’s fund and AOL Ventures will oversee our investment in the fund.”
For more background on the events that led up to this, view past coverage here.
And as a bonus, let’s review that Next Media Animation video one more time:
Schonfeld was already co-editor of TechCrunch, so it stands to reason that the site will remain relatively similar to how it’s always been, though that part about expanding editorial leadership in the coming months might have more bearing on that, depending on just what is in store.
