FT.com managing editor and publisher Ien Cheng, the Financial Times’ most senior digital executive, is quitting the company to take up the post of director of product management for advertising at Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Europe, reports the Guardian.co.uk. Cheng, who has been at FT.com for eight years, said in an internal email that his new job was “unmissable.” FT chief executive John Ridding credited Cheng with turning FT.com around, and as the “driving force” being the FT’s success in Asia, noting that page views had increased 85 percent in the first quarter and had attracted nearly 400,000 registered users. Cheng leaves the FT.com at the end of the month.

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