The drama surrounding Michael Arrington and his newly founded venture capital firm, CrunchFund, is ending. At this week's TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 in San Francisco, the influential blogger announced that he'll no longer be part of TechCrunch or its parent company, AOL. Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch's co-editor since 2007, replaces Arrington as the blog's editor. AOL issued a short statement following the announcement:

“The TechCrunch acquisition has been a success for AOL and for our shareholders, and we are very excited about its future. Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch has decided to move on from TechCrunch and AOL to his newly formed venture fund. Michael is a world-class entrepreneur and we look forward to supporting his new endeavor through our investment in his venture fund. Erick Schonfeld has been named the editor of TechCrunch. TechCrunch will be expanding its editorial leadership in the coming months.”

Arrington showed up in a t-shirt that read "Unpaid Blogger," a new title suggested during the feud by his former boss, Arianna Huffington, president of Huffington Post Media Group, if he still wishes to write for TechCrunch. His departure was fueled by potential conflicts of interest created by CrunchFund, given the influence TechCrunch has over the startup scene. The irony: AOL, the owner of TechCrunch, also invested $10 million in CrunchFund. Source: AllThingsD Photo credit: Kevin Krejci