Engadget Editors Leave AOL (AOL)

As first reported from Kara Swisher at AllThingsD, Josh Topolsky and Nilay Patel are leaving Engadget, which is owned by AOL AOL and moving on.

Topolsky was the editor-in-chief of Engadget, and Patel was a managing editor.

Despite rumors persisting that it was related to the recent Huffington Post acquisition, Swisher writes that the two have been wanting to leave the company for sometime, and that Arianna Huffington, the new head of AOL content tried to persuade Topolsky to stay on.

This isn't the first time Engadget has lost editors, with Paul Miller and Ross Miller leaving the website. The two are not related, despite having the same last name.

In a post in mid-February, Paul Miller was explicit about the issue on his personal blog about the "AOL Way."

Miller wrote, "I'd love to be able to keep doing this forever, but unfortunately Engadget is owned by AOL, and AOL has proved an unwilling partner in this site's evolution. It doesn't take a veteran of the publishing world to realize that AOL has its heart in the wrong place with content. As detailed in the “AOL Way,” and borne out in personal experience, AOL sees content as a commodity it can sell ads against. That might make good business sense (though I doubt it), but it doesn't promote good journalism or even good entertainment, and it doesn't allow an ambitious team like the one I know and love at Engadget to thrive."

Engadget has one of the largest tech audiences, with over 14 million unique visitors per month.

Topolsky posted a goodbye post on the Engadget site explaining his reasons and what he plans to do after Engadget.