Federated Media Publishing announced today that Deanna Brown is stepping down as CEO. Founder John Battelle ,who has been in an Executive Chairman role since handing over the CEO reins to Brown in early 2011, is reprising his role as chief executive.

Battelle wrote about the decision on his blog. Following is just a snippet:

So when Deanna told me earlier this year that she wanted – in a thoughtful and appropriate manner – to move on and do something smaller and more directly related to content creation, I immediately understood. As I said above – it’s alright to step away when the time feels right. We spent a month or more thinking about who might be best to replace her. FMP is a unique company – straddling the two fastest-growing sectors of the digital marketing world: Native content marketing, and programmatic platforms. There aren’t many executives who are fluent in both, and who also might be a cultural fit for a company as storied as this one.

And then it hit me – quite literally in mid-sentence while on a Board call. Why the hell don’t I simply step back in? I love this company, I am passionate about the Independent Web, and to be honest, I see a huge opportunity in front of us. What am I, nuts? Why didn’t I think of it the moment Deanna told me of her decision?

Under Brown, Federated Media grew its network to outrank Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft in audience reach, the company says, citing comScore data.

Battelle founded Federated Media in 2005.