Josh Topolsky is exiting his post as editor-in-chief of AOL’s tech news site Engadget.
Topolsky, who has been at Engadget for four years, announced the news Saturday night in a post on Engadget on Engadget.com titled “Hello, I must be going.” He didn’t say what his plans are but hinted that something is in the works.
“There are things I’m after and challenges I want to take on that just don’t fit with my day-to-day schedule here, so off I go,” he wrote, adding: “I’m not leaving the industry or the news game — in fact, I’ve got a few fantasy projects in mind that hopefully you’ll be hearing about soon.”
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He added that it was a tough decision to make.
“The time I’ve spent here has been — without question — the most amazing, rewarding, and just insanely fun period of my life,” he wrote. “And I like to think I’ve had some pretty good times.”
The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal-owned digital news site All Things Digital, which cited sources saying that managing editor Nilay Patel also is exiting.
All Things Digital reported that the departures have been in the works for some time and were spurred by several ongoing issues unrelated to AOL’s $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post announced last month. In fact, Arianna Huffington reportedly tried to convince Topolsky to remain at the company to no avail.
Topolsky’s and Patel’s departures follow those of fellow Engadget senior editors Paul Miller and Ross Miller (no relation) in February. Both executives publicly expressed dissatisfaction about the company’s master plan, dubbed the “AOL Way,” leaked last month that calls for editors to focus on increasing content and web traffic, among other mandates.
