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The founding editor of Search Engine Watch, the heavyweight in search blogging and the Wall Street Journal for the growing search-marketing set, says he's heading out this winter. Danny Sullivan announced his impending exit — from SEW and his Search Engine Strategies conferences — on his personal site, saying, "My contracts with their owners Incisive Media are expiring, and we've not been able to agree on new ones."

"The purpose of this post isn't to cast blame," he writes, before blaming Incisive Media for not giving him the incentive to grow the site and conferences.

The news comes shortly after USA Today featured Danny, making him, for 15 minutes, famous for more than 15 people.

An insider says that Danny was probably even more upset with his cut of his first sale of SEW and SES to Jupitermedia than he's letting on. Then, as Danny's written, it hurt not to get a chunk of the $40 million Incisive paid Jupitermedia for his properties. The tipster thinks Danny will "play with house money next time."

Leaving Search Engine Watch [Danny's blog]
Photo by Rustybrick [Flickr]