Henry Blodget

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For the 19th century U.S. federal judge, see Henry Williams Blodgett.

Henry Blodget on June 26, 2012, in New York City

Henry McKelvey Blodget (born 1966) is an American businessman, investor and journalist. He currently lives in Brooklyn.

Blodget is a former equity research analyst who was senior Internet analyst for CIBC Oppenheimer and the head of the global Internet research team at Merrill Lynch during the dot-com era.[1] Due to his violations of securities laws and subsequent civil trial conviction, Blodget is permanently banned from involvement in the securities industry.[2] Blodget is the CEO of Business Insider.[3]

Early life and education[]

Blodget was born and raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the son of a commercial banker. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale University, where he was a member of The Society of Orpheus and Bacchus.

After college, he taught English in Japan, then moved to San Francisco to be a writer while supporting himself by giving tennis lessons. He was also a freelance journalist and a proofreader for Harper's Magazine.[1]

Investment career[]

In 1994, Blodget joined the corporate finance training program at Prudential Securities, and, two years later, moved to Oppenheimer & Co. in equity research. In October 1998, he predicted that the common stock of Amazon, AMZN (then trading at $240) would be priced at $400 within a year. This was thought highly unlikely at the time; however, just three weeks later Amazon's stock price passed that mark, a gain of 67%.[4] This call received significant media attention. Two months later, Blodget accepted a position at Merrill Lynch, and frequently appeared on CNBC and similar shows.[4][5]

In early 2000, days before the dot-com bubble burst, Blodget personally invested $700,000 in tech stocks, only to lose most of it in the years that followed.[6] He accepted a buyout offer from Merrill Lynch and left the firm in 2001.[1]

Fraud allegation and settlement[]

In 2002, then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer published Merrill Lynch e-mails in which Blodget gave assessments about stocks which conflicted with what was publicly published.[7] In 2003, he was charged with civil securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[8] He agreed to a permanent ban from the securities industry and paid a $2 million fine plus a $2 million disgorgement.[2]

Writing[]

Following his departure from the financial markets, Blodget resumed his career as a financial and economics writer. He was appointed CEO of Cherry Hill Research, a research and consulting firm, and contributed to Slate, Newsweek International, The New York Times, Fortune, Forbes Online, Business 2.0, Euromoney, New York magazine, and The Financial Times.

Blodget rose to prominence again as co-founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Business Insider (initially known as Silicon Alley Insider) in 2007. He was also a frequent contributor to the Seeking Alpha website at the same time.[9] While CEO and owner of Business Insider, he offered free reproduction of all content to readers under Creative Commons licensing. Many financial news writers (e.g. Joseph Wiesenthal, Eric Boes) went on to highly visible careers in financial journalism after getting a "foot in the door" at Business Insider under the guidance of Blodget. In 2014, Jeffrey Bezos purchased a stake in Business Bnsider.

As of 2017, Blodget remains the CEO and editor-in-chief of Business Insider, now a general news website. He continues to contribute articles to Slate, Newsweek, and New York magazine. Blodget's articles focus on the return-limiting actions of individual investors, including listening to analysts and the financial media, and relying on active management such as mutual and hedge funds. His Slate articles about investing carry a seven-paragraph disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.[6]

In January 2007, Blodget published The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual: A Consumer's Guide to Intelligent Investing in January 2007.[10]

Internet broadcaster[]

Blodget used to co-host the Daily-Ticker[11] broadcast with Aaron Task weekdays at Yahoo! Finance.

Bibliography[]

  • The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual: A Consumer's Guide to Intelligent Investing. Atlas Books, 2007. ISBN 0-9777433-2-2.

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c McGeehan, Patrick (November 15, 2001). "Henry Blodget to Leave Merrill Lynch". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Securities and Exchange Commission, NASD and the New York Stock Exchange Permanently Bar Henry Blodget From the Securities Industry and Require $4 Million Payment". SEC. Retrieved April 21, 2007.
  3. ^ "Business Insider grew in 12 years to a monster digital enterprise. Now CEO Henry Blodget has plotted a new wave of expansion". Poynter. January 15, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Rehabilitation of Henry Blodget". The Motley Fool. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  5. ^ "Report Card:Henry Blodget". TheStreet.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2006. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual, Part 4" by Blodget, with sidebar
  7. ^ "Vested Interest". PBS. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  8. ^ Factual allegations as submitted by SEC
  9. ^ "Home". Silicon Alley Insider. Silicon Alley Insider. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  10. ^ III, Harry Hurt (February 18, 2007). "Financial Advice From 'That Henry Blodget'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  11. ^ "Yahoo Daily Ticker".

Further reading[]

External links[]

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