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Valleywag
VentureBeat reports that online ad network Federated Media is close to raising a $30 million round of financing, at a valuation of $200 million. The deal is not as advanced as VentureBeat suggests, we hear. But let's assume a large investor is seriously weighing a term sheet. Awesomely tan tech-reporter-turned-salesman John Battelle must be torn.
He saw Wired, where he was a founding editor, sold to Conde Nast for a pittance. The Industry Standard, which he launched and ran, crashed and burned. Federated Media, which caters to independent bloggers like Boing Boing and Dooce, could well be more successful than either, redeeming his reputation as a businessman. And with the economy teetering, now's a good time to take the money and run, before people deepen their questioning of the blog business model. Still, taking that much money from investors now — if Battelle can even get it — only increases the odds of a sale down the road.
Comments
Actually, the odds of a sale decrease dramatically after a $30M on $200M post. Who the heck is going to buy that turd for a multiple of $200M? Who would even but it for $200M?
Battelle is raising a ton of cash in the hopes of figuring out a business with exit potential over the next couple years.
He should have just kept his nice little vanity business as an annuity and been happy.
I couldn't agree more. They have almost zero of chance of selling for more than $200M. The new money must be interested in losing money. On top of having a very vulnerable publisher network these guys don't even own their own technology --- they use openAds to serve ads. So, they're purely a rep firm. They will get wiped out during an economic downturn.
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