It's the usual fluffery in this BusinessWeek love note to John Battelle and his Federated Media, including the literal money shot: "Last year, [FM] sold more than $10 million in advertising for about 90 Web sites. This year, Battelle says it is on track to turn a profit and increase sales fivefold." Check the counter-quote from none other than Jason Calacanis, who dislikes the idea of not owning the blogs in the network: "The second you build your client's business past $500,000 a year, they hire their own sales force." Doesn't leave a lot of room to maneuver with recently acquired FM client Ask a Ninja, reputedly brought aboard with a $300,000 guarantee. That's not the best thing about this article, though.

The BW missive actually brought the Battelle Watch blogger out of retirement. He points out that the writer of this BW article (Spencer E. Ante) also penned a review of James Ledbetter's book chronicling the flameout of Battelle's Industry Standard. Summary of review: book "good, if incomplete," Battelle "brilliant." In the current piece, Battelle also brags that "[FM client] Boing Boing is never going to get into the offices of General Motors. But Federated Media does all the time." Sounds like a challenge, BBers.

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