Blodget's New Tech Rocket

Judging by the cocktail party chatter of late, many on Wall Street are short of holiday cheer: Just talk to someone who works at Bear Stearns, for example. But one former industry figure is riding high into the holidays.

Silicon Alley Insider, the New York-focused tech/finance website run by Henry Blodget, the former Merrill Lynch analyst who was barred from the securities industry for life, is entering the new year as a growing business.

The site's traffic is rising rapidly, and the company is hiring. And this week, SAI launched a new ad partnership with John Battelle's Federated Media to serve fancy video advertising on the site.

Begun just four months ago, SAI has quickly become a must read for the digital set thanks to a potent mix of good content and savvy promotion. The editorial team, led by Peter Kafka, the managing editor, covers the technology industry with a slightly sardonic voice that's not as nihilistic as Valleywag, but not as dry as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

SAI is poised to get more than 200,000 visitors per month, according to Compete.com, which is not bad for a blog run by fewer than half a dozen people. Blodget declined to discuss whether SAI is profitable yet, but told Portfolio.com that he and his editors are "stoked" by the company's growth.

In an indication that the financial community may be willing to leave his past analytical indiscretions in the, well, past, Blodget has recently signed on to Yahoo Finance's new video offering. Blodget already blogs at the Huffington Post, which has increased his exposure, driving more traffic to SAI.

Last month, in a canny, if transparent, public relations stunt, SAI resurrected Jason Calacanis's long dormant Silicon Alley 100, which claims to list the most influential people in the New York tech scene. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most powerful man in New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was listed as No. 1.

This week, the company unveiled its new design, which packs more information on the homepage.

In an indication of his festive mood, Blodget today announced a "friendly" merger offer for CNET: The tech news giant would buy SAI for $50 million, and then Blodget and crew would take over the executive suites and presumably cure what ills CNET.

It's nice to see that Blodget hasn't lost his sense of humor. A CNET representative was not immediately available to respond to Blodget's proposal.

In the meantime, SAI is trying to leverage its success into further growth. The site is currently looking to hire four people, including a Wall Street analyst, a web developer, and a couple of reporters. The following job description appears particularly interesting.

"You enjoy schmoozing with local digerati? You go to the parties, meet-ups, etc, anyway, and you like to be influential?" asks the posting. "We don't have the staff to cover some local events and companies as well as they should be covered, so we need your help. Posts from your blog are okay. Even raw notes are fine."

Hear that, bloggers? Sounds like someone's having trouble keeping up with the nightlife. Paging Julia Allison!

SAI's success represents something of a vindication for Blodget, who was excommunicated from Wall Street and fined $4 million for hyping stocks during the last tech boom.

In New York, it appears, there are second acts.

Sam Gustin