Jason Calacanis, the firebrand blogger who started Weblogs Inc., has resigned as GM of AOL's Netscape division. He joined the company after Weblogs Inc. was purchased by the internet giant.  Under Calacanis' direction, Netscape was relaunched as a community portal where users could rate and comment on news stories from around the web. 

News of Calacanis' departure was first reported by Tech Crunch, and later confirmed by the New York Times.

Calacanis cited the recent departure of AOL Jonathan F. Miller as central to his decision to leave.  "I'm not inclined to start over with a new guy," Calacanis told the New York Times.  Shortly after Miller's departure, Calacanis wrote at his blog, " Today was a very sad day for me. One of the few mentors I've had in my life, Jon Miller, was replaced as CEO of AOL." 

In the wake of losing Miller, "several AOL executives said morale at the company had been shaken," reported the Times.

This year, AOL took the bold step of shifting focus from driving subscriptions for its internet access services, to building a robust, ad-supported online portal.  The move appears to have paid off as ad revenues are up 46 percent in the third quarter this year, which InformationWeek / Reuters reports surpassed forecasts. Operating income is also up, climbing 21 percent.