New CEO at TechCrunch

Big story (Om Malik got it first), and it suggests that TechCrunch is evolving into a more sophisticated media property. We'll look back on this, perhaps, as a turning point for blog ventures. Founder Mike Arrington spoke at the first Third Thursday in Palo Alto, and I recall him saying that TechCrunch was already poised to challenge traditional media properties like Wired ... and with a much less overhead. Even with the additional staff that it has added since then, TechCrunch looks meaner and leaner than many publications. My guess is that Arrington will now spend more time developing the editorial team, while the new CEO -- Heather Harde, SVP of mergers and acquisitions at Fox Interactive Media -- will build out the business. In the meantime, Harde's background in M&A is intriguing -- will TechCrunch buy other media properties (blogs, zines, other stuff)?