Mike’s got a post up at TechCrunch about Henry “I used to be a famous Wall Street analyst” Blodget, in which he goes on at length about Blodget’s Google-related post at Silicon Alley Insider today — the one in which Hank argues that Google could hit $2,000 a share. Mike seems genuinely pissed that Henry is shooting his mouth off about such a thing, especially after the history, and says someone should “muzzle Blodget.”
The history, as pretty well everyone knows by now, goes more or less like this: in 1998, Blodget says Amazon is going to $400, it does so, stocks climb to the moon, then they crater, Blodget is investigated for fraud for misleading investors by publicly pumping stocks and privately dumping on them, etc. and agrees to a settlement in which he is barred from the securities industry for life.
As I said in a comment on Mike’s post, I could be wrong, but I read Henry’s post as a sarcastic response to a reader who complained he was being too pessimistic all the time (can you blame him, given what happened the last time he was overly positive?). I think the point he was making was that it’s easy enough to throw a few multiples out there, a few back-of-a-napkin financial projections, and get to almost any number you want. Heck, that’s what analysts do for a living — as Blodget knows better than just about anyone.
I think Henry was having some fun with his reputation, and maybe trolling to get a reaction. And he sure got one.
Update:
Henry has an update on what he was up to (and a response to Mike) here, and Kara Swisher has a take on it as well.