Federated Media takes big investment
I'm thrilled to report that Federated Media Publishing, the company founded by Boing Boing band manager John Battelle, has just received a $50 million minority investment from Oak Investment Partners. This is huge news for FM, a company that handles ad sales and other publishing services for Boing Boing, Ars Technica, Dooce, and a slew of other sites.
I don't know much about venture capital, multiples, or valuations. But I do know a little about blogging, and I've met quite a few of people over the years (some well-intentioned, some, er, less so) who think they know the secret to successful online publishing. Turns out, they're almost always wrong. John and his incredible team at Federated Media, including Jason Weisberger, Chas Edwards, and many other folks, not only get business, but they get blogging too. That's a very rare combination.
John's been part of Boing Boing since 2004, back when "conversational marketing" was just a riff in the back of his mind and FM didn't even exist. In the years since, John and FM have enabled us to focus on what we love doing--sharing Internet esoterica, anomalies, and curiosities with you--and grow beyond what we ever imagined possible when BB was just a photocopied 'zine. We're proud to be part of the extended FM family. Congrats to Federated Media!
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Guys, I never got your emails about what color you wanted your Ferraris painted.
Fuck it. I'll just get one of each.
Question:
I block most web ads for ergonomic reasons (flashing and moving ads give me a headache). But I would like to see Boing Boing, Ars Technica, et all get the revenue they deserve when I buy things on line. Sometimes, when I'm getting something from Newegg, I'll go to Ars' shopping engine and click a Newegg link (assuming they're setting a cookie or something) and that Ars will get "credit" for the sale. But what can I do to help Boing Boing in a like manner?
Congratulations! Perhaps now you can buy a server, so I won't spend so much time watching my browser say "waiting for dynamic.fmpub.net"
@DILLONL (#2), Thanks for asking that question. We appreciate it. Right now, the only affiliate program we're involved with is Amazon.
#3 - I'm glad it's not just me! The main BB server seems to be more than adequate, but I'm always stuck waiting for the ad server(s), and Firefox won't render the rest of the page until they respond. Highly annoying.
But back on topic, congrats to BB and FM on the funding! Your web ventures are entertaining and worthwhile, and make the net a better place.
Awesome! If you cats ever want to move into comics, you know where to find us.
this is such fantastic news!
Finally the advertising revolution will happen online!
Don't know how to say this without sounding like a kiss-ass, but sell all the ads you can: bb is the best eclectic site in the world.
I hope your friends bear in mind that the investors are expecting something in return for their money.
What luck! A huge capitalization just as the economy goes into the crapper.
Fifty million bucks?! Whoo-hoo! Day-old donuts for everyone!
(True story: Back in one Christmas season at the Postal Service, when everyone was working long hours and most days off, the tradition from previous years had been for management to bring in boxes of donuts for workers each morning the week before Christmas. New Christmas season, new supervisors and new station manager. And they brought in... yes, really... day-old donuts for the workers.)
#5
As far as I know, It's the "comment" server, rather than the "ad" server, you are waiting on.. I suppose they could both be the same thing, but it sounds nicer my way :)