TechCrunch CEO Harde to exit

New York—Heather Harde, CEO of AOL Inc.'s TechCrunch, has resigned her post, effective at the end of the year, according to a blog post by TechCrunch Editor in Chief Erick Schonfeld. Harde's departure comes three months after Michael Arrington, TechCrunch's founder and editor, left the company after controversy over whether his venture capital fund, CrunchFund, represented a conflict of interest.

Other high profile exits from AOL's technology media businesses this year include last month's resignation by Sarah Lacy, senior editor at TechCrunch, and the departure in November of Engadget editor Josh Topolosky, who co-founded and launched The Verge, a technology media site.

Originally posted on: 12/19/11