MJ Akbar is leaving India Today at the end of this month. He was editorial director of the magazine and of the English news channel Headlines Today. He told BestMediaInfo that he was leaving on amicable terms and that he had enjoyed working with Aroon Purie for whom he had "great respect”. However at his meeting with staff today he is reported to have said there were too many power centres and that with the new equity pattern the flagship magazine would not remain the same. (The reference is to Kumar Mangalam Birla buying a 27.5 per cent stake in India Today.)