American businessman, investor and journalist
Henry McKelvey Blodget
(born 1966) is an American businessman, investor and journalist. He is notable for his former career as an
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]
Blodget was charged with civil securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
[2]
and settled the charges.
[3]
Blodget is the co-founder and former CEO of
Business Insider
.
[4]
Early life and education
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
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%.
[5]
This call received significant media attention. Two months later, Blodget accepted a position at
Merrill Lynch
, and frequently appeared on
CNBC
and similar shows.
[5]
[6]
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.
[7]
He accepted a buyout offer from Merrill Lynch and left the firm in 2001.
[1]
Fraud allegation and settlement
[
edit
]
In 2003, Blodget was charged with civil securities fraud by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
.
[8]
and settled the charges with a payment of $4 million without admitting or denying the allegations and their underlying facts and findings. He was permanently barred from the securities industry and censured by the SEC, NASD, and NYSE.
[9]
The charges arose from actions Blodget took from 1999-2001 while at Merrill Lynch, which included issuing materially misleading research reports on internet companies, and making exaggerated or unwarranted claims about them to customers.
Writing
[
edit
]
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.
[10]
While CEO and owner of
Business Insider
, he offered free reproduction of all content to readers under Creative Commons licensing. In 2014, Jeffrey Bezos purchased a stake in
Business Insider
.
In November 2023, it was reported that Blodget would no longer be the CEO of
Business Insider
.
[11]
He no longer contributes 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.
[7]
In January 2007, Blodget published
The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual: A Consumer's Guide to Intelligent Investing
.
[12]
Internet broadcaster
[
edit
]
Blodget used to co-host the
Daily-Ticker
[13]
broadcast with
Aaron Task
weekdays at
Yahoo! Finance
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual: A Consumer's Guide to Intelligent Investing.
Atlas Books, 2007.
ISBN
0-9777433-2-2
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
McGeehan, Patrick (November 15, 2001).
"Henry Blodget to Leave Merrill Lynch"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Factual allegations as submitted by SEC
- ^
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/04/08/business-outsider
"Business Outsider," New Yorker magazine April 1, 2013
- ^
"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
.
- ^
a
b
"The Rehabilitation of Henry Blodget"
. The Motley Fool. November 24, 2004
. Retrieved
January 30,
2007
.
- ^
"Report Card:Henry Blodget"
. TheStreet.com. Archived from
the original
on December 5, 2006
. Retrieved
January 30,
2007
.
- ^
a
b
"The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual, Part 4" by Blodget, with sidebar
- ^
Factual allegations as submitted by SEC
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"Home"
.
Silicon Alley Insider
. Retrieved
July 6,
2015
.
- ^
Bruell, Alexandra (November 14, 2023). "Insider Co-Founder Henry Blodget Steps Down as CEO Amid Strategy Shift". Wall Street Journal.
- ^
III, Harry Hurt (February 18, 2007).
"Financial Advice From 'That Henry Blodget'
"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
September 2,
2020
.
- ^
"Yahoo Daily Ticker"
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
People
| |
---|
Companies
| |
---|
History
| |
---|
Publications
| |
---|
Broadcast media
| |
---|
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|