Posts Tagged ‘John Battelle’

Federated Media Publishing has a new CEO: President and chief operating officer Deanna Brown will assume the CEO role, bumping founder and chairman John Battelle up to executive chairman and chief strategy officer.

Brown has been with Federated since September 2009, and the company has enjoyed six consecutive quarters of profitability, 62 percent growth in top-line revenue, and an increase of 35 percent in ad programs.

Battelle will continue to focus on providing senior client service, core strategy, and leading events. He said:

In May 2009, I posted that I was looking for a partner to help take Federated Media to the next level. During Deanna’s tenure, we’ve witnessed some exciting milestones as a team. Today I am thrilled to announce the next stage of our partnership as we continue to grow and evolve as a company.

Brown added:

Federated Media saw a banner year in 2010 as we continued our laser focus of servicing clients and qualifying, curating, and publishing on the independent Web at scale. I am thrilled with the opportunity to move into this expanded role and am committed to our stellar team as we focus on continued growth.

Federated Media Publishing became the parent of a parenting company, announcing that it acquired BigTent, an online forum for parenting groups, looking to combine the more than 8 million parents who engage with Federated authors with BigTent’s roster of over 15,000 communities. Terms were not disclosed.

Federated CEO John Battelle told AllThingsD the move was made with an eye toward strengthening the tools used by its advertisers and publishers, saying, “People might look at us as a school of fish, but suddenly realize we are a shark. We want to create meaningful interactions on the independent Web.”

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We’re just a few weeks away from Silicon Alley Insider’s Startup 2009, an entrepreneur’s conference in NYC on June 3. Startup 2009 will showcase 10 top startups competing for bragging rights, buzz, and a $50,000 prize.

It will also feature in-depth conversations with Jason Calacanis, Facebook’s Chris Hughes and John Battelle, as well as panels on How To Raise A Boatload Of Money In A Bad Market and The 10 Biggest Mistakes Promising Companies Make.

The conference takes place June 3 at the Schimmel Auditorium at NYU’s Stern School. There’s also an open-bar after party. Click here for more information.

Two lucky WebNewser readers will also be attending the conference for free. Just email us here, or drop us a comment (you’ll have to use your real name) and let us know why you should win.

We’ll select the winners this Friday.

Reuters is reporting that MySpace, the social networking company owned by Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp, may soon design and sell a digital music player in direct competition with Apple’s iPod.

MySpace co-founder and Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe said at a conference in San Francisco on Thursday said that there are no immediate plans to manufacture such a device.

“It’s possible” that MySpace, which recently launched a music joint venture with major music labels, could eventually build a device for listening to music, DeWolfe said in response to a question from conference host John Battelle, according to the report. “Right now, we’re just focusing on the service.”