Mayor Bloomberg, Top Techie?

Michael Bloomberg has been named the most influential figure in New York's technology community by the website Silicon Alley Insider.

The mayor of New York and founder of the financial data juggernaut Bloomberg L.L.P. was recognized as "New York's most successful digital entrepreneur."

"Michael Bloomberg is so successful and influential, in fact," Alley Insider's editors wrote, "that he puts most of Wall Street's and Silicon Valley's titans to shame."

The Silicon AIley 100 is a project of Henry Blodget, the former Merrill Lynch technology analyst who was barred from the securities industry for life for hyping stocks during the last tech bubble. The list was among the topics Blodget discussed with Portfolio.com in a two-part interview
published in August.

The original Silicon Alley 100 was begun nearly a decade ago by Jason Calacanis - then the editor of the Silicon Alley Reporter and now the "funtrepreneur " behind human-powered search startup Mahalo.

The current SAI 100 list is part of Blodget's continuing crusade to reinvent himself as a tech Svengali.

Blodget hopes the new SAI 100 list will help drive traffic to Alley Insider, which currently has nearly 200,000 unique visitors per month, according to Compete.com. But the list is also an effort to establish Blodget as a king maker.

Although Bloomberg is not usually considered a major player in New York's insular tech community, he is one the most powerful men in the three crucial New York power corridors: Wall Street, the news media, and city government.

The top ranked journalist on the list is the New York Times' M&A reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin (No. 23).

"By creating and editing the Times' highly successful business site DealBook," Blodget and his colleagues wrote, "Andrew has helped boost the paper's presence in digital media and turn NYTimes.com into a valuable source of real-time business news."

Blodget, it should be noted, had been asked by Sorkin to write an article for a DealBook special section in October - a move that prompted the newspaper's public editor to weigh in on whether Blodget's past had been fully disclosed or whether he should be writing at all for the paper.

"Some of his taint rubs off on the Times," the public editor, Clark Hoyt, concluded in writing about Blodget.

(While at Merrill Lynch, Blodget and other analysts privately called stocks "junk" or "crap" or "a dog" in emails, while simultaneously advising clients to buy them.)

Other journalists on the list include the entire New York Post business section ( No. 52), which was cited for its "must-read digital business coverage for both local and national readers." ( I used to work for the Post's business section.)

Asked about the methodology for the list, Blodget said in an email: "We created the 2007 Silicon Alley 100 after reviewing hundreds of nominations from readers, colleagues, friends, PR reps, journalists, and other sources. We winnowed down the names during a series of editorial meetings over the past two months, several of which involved vigorous debate. In selecting and ranking the final 100, we emphasized entrepreneurship, recent and past successes, reputation, financial resources, and general influence within the New York digital community."

Anticipation about the SAI 100 has been building in recent weeks, after New York tech startup Bricabox.com published a rival list, the Silicon Alley 100 "People Choice," which gave members of New York's technology community an opportunity to vote for the most influential New York tech figures.

Blodget's list was compiled by him and his small editorial team, which includes Peter Kafka and Dan Frommer, two former Forbes.com staffers.

After Bloomberg, Barry Diller comes in at No. 2, followed by Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson, Greycroft's Alan Patricof, Scott Heiferman, Google's Tim Armstrong, Gawker Media's Nick Denton, CBS Interactive's Quincy Smith, Internet legend Esther Dyson, and former AOL honcho Bob Pittman.

Sam Gustin