The New York Daily News' Scott Cohen, who was tasked with a key piece of the tabloid's survival as the editor of the paper's website, is leaving after four years. He's off to go work at a startup.

We're told a replacement for Cohen—whose official title was changed during a November shakeup prioritizing web over print, from Executive Editor of NYDN Digital to Senior Managing Editor of Digital—has not yet been named.

Cohen confirmed his depature with The Observer shortly before making it public. A spokesperson for the New York Daily News did not return a request for comment on whether or not a replacement has been named.

His new gig? We've heard he'll be moving onto a startup called Vocativ, billed as "an innovative news platform focused on social & political change, the economy and tech" (it's currently in beta).

Layoffs, departures, and editorial reshufflings have kept the New York Daily News looking, like many a newspaper, more than slightly bruised over the last few years. Yet the tabloid's website is a force to be reckoned with, having long been a central focus of the paper's business.

For some people, it's worked out fairly well. Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman has what the New York Post still to this day lusts after: a national web destination attached to a distinctly local print product that can hit 10M unique visitors a month. Their crosstown competition at the Post is still playing catch-up, having recently hired former Gawker editor Remy Stern to replace their own recently-departed web editor in addition to pulling The Daily's editor, Jesse Angelo, back into the problem as well.

For others, like former NYDN senior managing editor Stuart Marques, it didn't: He allegedly saw the print product lose quality in the website's chase for pageviews (like, say, painfully clickable 84-page slideshows) and prioritizing over the daily paper. Marques left the paper in October; the next month, sixteen staffers were cut.

Cohen, for his part, oversaw a large period of expansion and plenty of evolution for the News' website while with the tabloid; he became a pretty quotable go-to on the secrets of running a successful news website.

No doubt Daily News editor Colin Myler—who's already having a pretty scandalized week—now has another problem on his hands this week: The search is no doubt on by now.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek