Leibowitz plans to leave his post in mid-February, according to the New York Times.
"I felt like it was a good time to leave because we got through a number of things I wanted to address the commission," he told the newspaper.
President Obama has appointed Leibowitz, who was once a commissioner at the FTC, to lead the agency in 2009. Leibowitz was said to have been chosen because of its position on the best antitrust issues and privacy online.
During his tenure, Leibowitz succeeded in antitrust investigations against Facebook, Google and Intel. He also raised tens of privacy issues and expanded the Children Act Online Privacy.
The most publicized efforts under the belt is Leibowitz of the FTC antitrust investigation into Google's business practices. The 20-month probe focuses primarily on how Google displays search results, which critics say favor of the company's own services over those of its competitors. Under the rules of the FTC, a handful of companies can now choose to stop showing their results within Google products such as Google Local, Google Shopping, and Hotels. The search giant has also voluntarily agreed to change how it uses data from other websites. However, some regulators have complained that the settlement agreement was akin to a slap on the wrist, and despite the probe, Google continues to operate normally with search results looking more or less the same.
Now that Leibowitz resigned, it is likely to move to the private sector, where he intends to focus on competition policy and protection of personal information, according to the New York Times. We do not know who his successor will be.
