Henry Blodget

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Henry Blodget (born 1966) is a former securities analyst who was senior Internet analyst for CIBC Oppenheimer during the dot-com bubble. He was later employed by Merrill Lynch.

Blodget received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and began his career as a freelance journalist and was a proofreader for Harper's Magazine. 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 ^[1], he predicted that Amazon.com's stock price would hit $400 (which it did a month later, gaining 128%). This call received significant media attention, and, two months later, he accepted a prized position at Merrill Lynch.^[2][3] Blodget's influence continued to increase, and, in 2000, he was voted the No. 1 Internet/eCommerce analyst on Wall Street by Institutional Investor, Greenwich Associates, and thestreet.com. 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.^[4] In 2001, he accepted a buyout offer from Merrill Lynch and left the firm.

Contents 1 Fraud Settlement 2 Writing 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Fraud Settlement

In 2002, then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, published Merrill Lynch e-mails in which Blodget allegedly gave assessments about stocks, which conflicted with what was publicly published.^[5] In 2003, he was charged with civil securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.^[6] He settled without admitting or denying the allegations and was subsequently banned from the securities industry for life. He paid a $2 million fine and $2 million disgorgement but kept millions more he earned in fees while promoting investments in stocks which failed.^[7]

[edit] Writing

Currently Blodget is president of Cherry Hill Research, an industry analysis and consulting firm, and is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Editor in Chief of Silicon Alley Insider, a blog about internet business trends and research. He is also a frequent contributor to the magazines Slate, Newsweek and New York.

Blodget began writing for Slate in January 2004, initially covering the Martha Stewart trials. In July 2004, Blodget began writing a 4 part series entitled "The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual" for the magazine. He examined the role of analysts, noting: "Predicting future market performance is not an exact science, and those who pretend it is do so at their peril." This series expanded to a total of 13 articles.^[8]

Blodget's later articles for the magazine have focused 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. Instead, Blodget now recommends low fee index investing to capture the broad return, while focusing on reduced portfolio turnover to minimize taxes. His Slate articles about investing carry a seven-paragraph disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.^[4]

Blodget's first book, The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual: A Consumer's Guide to Intelligent Investing, was published in January 2007.

[edit] See also

• Mary Meeker
• Frank Quattrone

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Silicon Alley Insider Henry Blodget's multi-author technology blog
• Internet Outsider Henry Blodget's old blog
• The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual - Promotional site for Blodget's first book.