David Liu is leaving his post as SVP for Global Messaging, Techcrunch reports. He’ll be making his exit next month, according to an e-mail Liu sent to co-workers. Although he’d been in the role for about a year-and-a-half, Liu’s departure comes a month after the hiring of ex-Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Brad Garlinghouse as president of Internet and Mobile Communications. That puts Garlinghouse in charge of the portal’s global efforts to expand the reach of its AIM/ICQ, e-mail and SMS services.

Liu had been charged with making AOL’s “lifestreaming” tool easier for users to manage their messaging accounts across Twitter, Facebook and other social nets. Considering the recent personnel changes, and the threat that AOL (NYSE: TWX) may lay off some more staff by early next year following AOL’s planned spin-off from Time Warner, a number of execs are likely to follow Liu toward the doors over the coming weeks.

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• AOL’s Post-Spin Board Includes Former FCC Chair Powell, Former William Morris Head Wiatt
• AOL Tosses Out COO Partoll, Search And Local Head Kannapel
• Industry Moves: Garlinghouse Is Back—And AOL’s Got Him