By MARTY WOLK, MSNBC.com

NEW YORK, June 14 — After nearly a decade in the top editorial spot, Paul Maidment is departing Forbes.com. Maidment joined Forbes in 2001 from FT.com and was responsible for a business news site that became one of the biggest on the Web. In addition to running the Web site, he held the title of executive editor of Forbes magazine.

The departure, which was not completely unexpected, is one of many changes at Forbes. Last month Forbes acquired the journalism Web site True/Slant, and its founder Lewis Dvorkin joined Forbes as “chief product officer,” in charge of all editorial areas. Dvorkin was executive editor of Forbes magazine from December 1996 to April 2000.

Gawker published the following farewell note from Maidment, addressed to his fellow “wretches”:

“As many of you already know, June 14th is my last day at Forbes. After almost ten years that have seen Forbes.com transformed in scope, reach and importance during a decade of wrenching change for our industry, I am ready to advance to the next phase of my life (which won’t be starting until the World Cup is finished, of course). This is the right moment to make the break and take the plunge. My thanks to all those who helped make Forbes.com become what it is today. Stay in touch via
[redacted]. There will be beers. Good luck and prosper well.”

“We wish Paul every future success and we are deeply grateful for his contributions over the past ten years,” Editor In Chief Steve Forbes said in a news release.