One half of the heavyweight duo operating Silicon Valley's industry blog of record is making his exit. After a little over two years at the helm alongside Alexia Tsotsis, TechCrunch co-editor Eric Eldon will soon depart the site. He planned to make the news official next week.

Eldon, always the flagship site's most level head, confirmed his move to me earlier today, but declined to say what his next project will be—though he will be taking a few "weeks off." This leaves TechCrunch, still the most influential of all startup insider publications, with a single editorial leader, Alexia. It's unclear whether she or her overlords at AOL will look to fill Eldon's staid co-editor seat, but at this point she's undoubtedly the face of TechCrunch, even as the burned-in image of Mike Arrington fades from our retinas.

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