Maybe he had a one year period starting from when the acquisition deal was inked rather than when it was announced? Maybe he has a few weeks of vacation time to keep him officially at techcrunch for the rest of the year even though he's not actually there?

It's close enough that there's probably some details which make up the difference.

He isn't leaving; he just won't be the editor.

I'm willing to bet Arrington wanted out as soon as the deal was signed. He isn't the type that can have a boss.

I think he is. Leaving TechCrunch that is. If I'm reading the article correctly, he will be full-time at CrunchFund and serve as a contributor to TC (like Vivek Wadhwa and Rocky Agarwal does from time to time).

But AOL is the primary LP in the fund. I'm sure they worked something out.

Perhaps this is what they really bought TechCrunch for?

I wouldn't think so because why did they have him stay so long as editor at TC instead of just switching over to the VC fund?