Podcast appearances and mentions of Henry Blodget

Henry Blodget built Business Insider into one of the few breakout successes of the traffic era. Now, with his new project Regenerator, he's taking a different path—one that reflects the broader shifts in digital media. We talk about the collapse of platform-driven distribution, why subscriptions are a more durable model, how venture capital never quite fit the media business, and what it takes to build in the current environment of fragmented attention and AI disruption.Check out The Rebooting's recent research report about AI and personalizationAttend The Rebooting's Online Forum with Recurrent and WordPress VIP on how Recurrent migrated its tech stack

This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by Henry Blodget to discuss the financial and political fallout from the President's threats to fire Fed Chair Powell and subsequent retreat; a Supreme Court case over free exercise of religion that could have broad implications; and why Trump stands by Hegseth after Signalgate Part 2. For this week's Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily and David are joined by Henry Blodget to discuss the weird and somewhat terrifying AI experiment he conducted for his Substack Regenerator.   In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with author Maggie Smith about her new book, Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life.   Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Research by Emily Ditto   Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by Henry Blodget to discuss the financial and political fallout from the President's threats to fire Fed Chair Powell and subsequent retreat; a Supreme Court case over free exercise of religion that could have broad implications; and why Trump stands by Hegseth after Signalgate Part 2. For this week's Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily and David are joined by Henry Blodget to discuss the weird and somewhat terrifying AI experiment he conducted for his Substack Regenerator.   In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with author Maggie Smith about her new book, Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life.   Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Research by Emily Ditto   Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annie Logue joins the Native Angelino Podcast with Tom LevineListen now | Annie Logue From Wall Street to Author of Day Trading For Dummies | Stories of Henry Blodget's fall, Liar's Poker, and tips for freelance writers.Stories and Advice for Aspiring FreelancersAnn Logue (rhymes with vogue) started her career as a Wall Street financial analyst covering the healthcare sector. She followed a traditional path - undergrad studied economics, earned an MBA in finance, and joined an investment bank. Then, an awakening and a career change.She is now a full-time freelance writer of six books and hundreds of articles.She regularly shares her witty thoughts on The Whatever Years (Substack).We have known each other for decades and reminisce on the ‘old days,' including stories of WIRED Magazine, Henry Blodget's fall from grace and reemergence at Business Insider, and the early days of the internet (Netcom, Netscape, Drugstore.com), and the dot-com bubble.Her list of ‘must have' books for every aspiring Wall Street trainee is in the notes below. Hint: Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker is at the top.What is her favorite bookstore? Unabridged Bookstore in Chicago, IL.Table Of Contents00:25 From Wall Street to Author of 6 books7:30 Day Trading for Dummies11:30 Visions of Becoming a WIRED staff writer12:50 Her First Paid Clip - the New York Times16:15 Liar's Poker and Other Books to Have on Your Shelf17:00 Salomon Brothers20:30 Disruption - Publishing Industry, Real Estate, Wall St26:30 Cost of Education40:40 Advice on Starting A Freelance Writing Career44:25 Writing Advice - Practical Tips53:04 Henry Blodget1:02:10 Annie's Favorite Bookstore1:03 My Netcom (NETC) Story This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.1929.live/subscribe

In this final episode of Let's Go To Court, Kristin takes us full circle — with a con man. In his hometown of Wellsville, New York, Paul Ceglia was known for his dishonesty. He always had a scheme going. He often got caught. In fact, he got caught in 2009 running a fraudulent business. But our pal Paul claims that it was in that dark moment, with the government coming after him, he discovered something incredible. While going through his old files, he found a contract that had been signed by an 18-year-old Mark Zuckerberg. According to that contract, Paul was the rightful owner to 84% of Facebook.  And now for a note about our process. For this episode, Kristin read a bunch of articles, then spat them back out in her very limited vocabulary. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Facebook Face-off” episode of American Greed “Facebook fraud suspect on the lam; family, dog also missing,” Associated Press “Facebook friend or foe?” by Tim Graham for The Buffalo News “Fugitive Ceglia to be returned to U.S. to face charges of attempting to defraud Facebook,” by Phil Fairbanks for The Buffalo News “Ceglia has bad day in Facebook lawsuit,” by Dan Herbeck for The Buffalo News “Paul Ceglia: The man who owns 84% of Facebook?” by Van Voris for Bloomberg Businessweek “The buy who says he owns 50% of Facebook just filed a boatload of new evidence – and it's breathtaking,” by Henry Blodget for Business Insider “Facebook's suit against lawyers for Ceglia thrown out on appeal,” by Bob Van Voris for Bloomberg News  “Where in the world is Paul Ceglia? Possibly Ireland,” by Phil Fairbanks for The Buffalo News  YOU'RE STILL READING? My, my, my, you skeezy scunch! You must be hungry for more! We'd offer you some sausage brunch, but that gets messy. So how about you head over to our Patreon instead? (patreon.com/lgtcpodcast). At the $5 level, you'll get 55+ full length bonus episodes, plus access to our 90's style chat room!  

Episode 495: Shaan Puri (https://twitter.com/ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (https://twitter.com/theSamParr) talk with Kevin Ryan, Founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, an incubator and venture capital fund behind Business Insider, MongoDB, GILT and Zola among others. Kevin shares how he runs his +$20B venture studio AlleyCorp, why Buzzfeed ultimately failed, how he launches 8 companies a year and much more. Want to see more MFM? Subscribe to the MFM YouTube channel here. — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com/ Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Try Shepherd Out - https://www.supportshepherd.com/ • Shaan's Personal Assistant System - http://shaanpuri.com/remoteassistant • Power Writing Course - https://maven.com/generalist/writing • Small Boy Newsletter - https://smallboy.co/ • Daily Newsletter - https://www.shaanpuri.com/ — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (3:15) Selling DoubleClick to Google for ~$3B (5:20) Starting Business Insider, MongoDB and Gilt (11:00) What led Kevin to start Business Insider (15:00) Why Kevin hired Henry Blodget to run Business Insider (16:45) What did Buzzfeed get wrong? (18:45) Why has AlleyCorp been such a success compared to other venture studios?   (29:20) What businesses Kevin's excited about right now (39:00) Thoughts on buy vs. build vs. bootstrap (41:00) What business has been the easiest and most profitable? (42:50) Thoughts on AI (44:50) Launching 8 companies a year (47:40) Why Kevin isn't on social media (50:20) Starting companies in the recruiting space (54:20) The benefit of being emotionally stable (56:20) Kevin's investment portfolio — Links: • Kevin's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinryan3/ • AlleyCorp - https://alleycorp.com/ • Business Insider - https://www.businessinsider.com/ • Henry Blodget - https://twitter.com/hblodget • MongoDB - https://www.mongodb.com/ • Gilt - https://www.gilt.com/ • The Ladders - https://www.theladders.com/ • RippleMatch - https://ripplematch.com/ • Do you love MFM and want to see Sam and Shaan's smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel. — Past guests on My First Million include Rob Dyrdek, Hasan Minhaj, Balaji Srinivasan, Jake Paul, Dr. Andrew Huberman, Gary Vee, Lance Armstrong, Sophia Amoruso, Ariel Helwani, Ramit Sethi, Stanley Druckenmiller, Peter Diamandis, Dharmesh Shah, Brian Halligan, Marc Lore, Jason Calacanis, Andrew Wilkinson, Julian Shapiro, Kat Cole, Codie Sanchez, Nader Al-Naji, Steph Smith, Trung Phan, Nick Huber, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Askren, Ramon Van Meer, Brianne Kimmel, Andrew Gazdecki, Scott Belsky, Moiz Ali, Dan Held, Elaine Zelby, Michael Saylor, Ryan Begelman, Jack Butcher, Reed Duchscher, Tai Lopez, Harley Finkelstein, Alexa von Tobel, Noah Kagan, Nick Bare, Greg Isenberg, James Altucher, Randy Hetrick and more. — Other episodes you might enjoy: • #224 Rob Dyrdek - How Tracking Every Second of His Life Took Rob Drydek from 0 to $405M in Exits • #209 Gary Vaynerchuk - Why NFTS Are the Future • #178 Balaji Srinivasan - Balaji on How to Fix the Media, Cloud Cities & Crypto • #169 - How One Man Started 5, Billion Dollar Companies, Dan Gilbert's Empire, & Talking With Warren Buffett • ​​​​#218 - Why You Should Take a Think Week Like Bill Gates • Dave Portnoy vs The World, Extreme Body Monitoring, The Future of Apparel Retail, "How Much is Anthony Pompliano Worth?", and More • How Mr Beast Got 100M Views in Less Than 4 Days, The $25M Chrome Extension, and More

In Trust Me, I'm Lying, Ryan Holiday reveals the media manipulation tactics he used as Marketing Director of American Apparel, and for his PR clients. Meanwhile, he exposes the inner workings of a modern media machine in which incentives make it impossible for the version of reality depicted in the media to come close to resembling the truth. I think it's Holiday's best book, and one of the best media studies books. So, here, in my own words, is my Trust Me, I'm Lying summary. Yes, this book is about lying Before Ryan Holiday became known as an author of modern stoicism books, he dropped out of college at nineteen to apprentice under 48 Laws of Power author, Robert Green. He later was the marketing director for American Apparel, and now has a PR agency, Brass Check, where he advises corporate clients and authors. As the title of the book suggests, the tactics Holiday confesses to might make your skin crawl. They involve deliberate provocation, bribery, impersonation, and – since it's called Trust Me, I'm Lying – making stuff up. But everyone should read it This may turn people off to the book, but if you're an author, marketer, entrepreneur, musician, filmmaker, or comedian, you're in the business of trying to get your message into the world. So, ignore this book at your own peril. The people with whom you compete for attention are using these tactics. Understanding these tactics is a good way to understand the mechanics of media. You can use this knowledge to get your message out in less nefarious ways (more on that later). And, if you're someone who thinks it's your duty to read the news, to “stay informed,” you owe it to yourself to read this book. But be prepared to have that belief challenged, and your conception of reality altered. Media is a “racket” Holiday describes the modern media system as a “racket,” the word which Major General Smedley D. Butler once used to describe war. He defined it as something “where only a small group of insiders know what's really going on and they operate for the benefit of a few and at the expense of basically everyone else.” Journalists are poor, busy, and desperate for a story The main insider in the modern media system is the journalist, more generally, a “blogger,” who might be someone writing articles for a small blog, or even a major media outlet such as the Huffington Post. Holiday uses “blogger” and “journalist,” interchangeably, and I will, too. Journalists are poor To help you understand the motivations of many of these journalists, Holiday points out this: They might have gone to an expensive grad school, and now live in a big, expensive city, such as NYC, San Francisco, or Washington D.C. They've been close enough to taste a $200,000-a-year journalism job. But now they're churning out articles at a breakneck pace, without even getting health insurance. Meanwhile, the people they cover are rich and successful, and may include talentless reality TV stars. New York magazine called the result “the rage of the creative underclass.” Journalists are busy These bloggers have to write a face-melting amount of content. When journalist Bekah Grant left VentureBeat, she wrote a post saying she averaged five posts a day – more than 1,700 articles in twenty months. Henry Blodget, founder of Business Insider, said his bloggers need to generate three times their salary, benefits, and overhead costs to be worth hiring. So, an employee making sixty-thousand dollars a year needs to produce 1.8 million page views a month, every month. (1.8 million page views is a lot. At my current traffic, it takes me about a decade to generate that much on my blog, and I make more than sixty-thousand dollars a year.) Journalists are desperate for a story Most sites that journalists write for make their money from ads, and the way to make money from ads is to generate page views. As such, many journalists are paid by the page view. I've personally heard this from a friend who worked for a newspaper with a good reputation, covering news for a major city. So, journalists are desperate for a story that will generate page views. So, if you give them a juicy story that will generate page views, they will generally publish it. They're too busy to fact check it, and since they're compensated by the page view, they aren't motivated to care whether or not it's true. Readers want to be entertained, and don't care what's true So you've got poor, busy, and desperate journalists paid by the page view, and the people they're writing for want to be entertained. Negativity attracts attention In 2010, Jonah Berger analyzed 7,000 articles from the New York Times' most-emailed list. He found that the best predictor of virality was: how much anger does the article evoke? Increasing the anger rating of an article had two-and-a-half times the impact of increasing its positivity rating. The human mind is irresistibly attracted to negativity. When subjects of a study were shown footage of war, airplane crashes, and natural disasters, they paid more attention and remembered more than non-negative footage. Corrections don't work Negativity attracts page views, so journalists want juicy stories, and don't care if they're true – and neither do readers, it seems. One study found that when people were shown a fake article with a correction at the bottom, they were more likely to believe it than those who saw an article without a correction. (Note from me: this finding hasn't been consistent across other studies. (Is that a correction you believe?) In any case, people's beliefs are still resistant to contrary facts.) Despite this, online news outlets are financially motivated to publish stories, whether they're true or not. A Gawker reporter once said, “Gawker believes that publicly airing rumors out is usually the quickest way to get to the truth,” going on to say, “Let's acknowledge that we can't vouch for the veracity or truth of the rumors we'll be sharing here.” Journalists are motivated to publish false stories, and, as Holiday points out, “While the internet allows content to be written iteratively, the audience does not read or consume it iteratively.” In other words, they see the story, not the correction. Media manipulation strategy: Trading up the chain Holiday shares nine media manipulation tactics in the book, but they all essentially serve the strategy that Holiday calls, “trading up the chain.” And trading up the chain is something you can do, even without lying. The chain Here's how it works: Get coverage on smaller outlets. Those stories then get covered on mid-level outlets. Finally, major outlets pick up stories from the mid-level outlets. Smaller outlets can be individual blogs, social media, or local websites that cover a neighborhood or scene. Mid-level outlets are blogs of newspapers or local television stations. They can also be “sister sites” of bigger outlets, so they might be affiliated with Newsweek, or CBS. Major outlets are the big ones, like the New York Times, CNN, or The Today Show. It's easy to get coverage on the small outlets It's easy to get coverage on smaller outlets, Holiday says. If there's a bigger outlet on which you want coverage, review stories for patterns. What are the stories about? Is there a smaller outlet where stories consistently show up before stories on the bigger outlet? The smaller the outlet, the less they fact-check Holiday says the smaller an outlet is, the less they fact check. This is where the lying comes in. Holiday confesses to creating fake email accounts to send tips to bloggers, leaking fake internal memos, and having his assistant pose as him over email and even over the phone. You don't even have to start with the small outlets. Holiday says he successfully “conned” reporters from Reuter's, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, The Today Show, and the New York Times. Using HARO, or “Help a Reporter Out” – which is an email list reporters use to find story sources – he found journalists who were looking for experts on various subjects. Holiday isn't an expert on, say, vinyl record collecting, but these reporters were presumably on deadlines, and so not inclined to fact check. Holiday says he did it as a stunt to prove how ridiculous he thinks HARO is, and points out that even after he publicly embarrassed these outlets, they continue to use the service. Subprime truth One of my favorite observations from the book is that the fuzziness of truth in the media is like the subprime mortgage crisis. During the subprime mortgage crisis, banks sold loans to other banks, who sold those to other banks. These loans were rated by ratings agencies that were overwhelmed, and driven by conflicts of interest. One example of false information in the media Holiday seized upon was when a journalist misinterpreted the Wikipedia page of Holiday's client, Tucker Max. Holiday had written Max's page to show that his book had been on the New York Times best-seller list for some period of time in each of three consecutive years. The journalist apparently read that, then wrote a story saying Max's book had been on the best-seller list for three years. That was wrong, but Holiday ran with it, updating the Wikipedia page to say Max's book had, indeed, been on the list for three years, citing the incorrect article as proof. (The Wikipedia page has since been corrected.) Like the subprime mortgage crisis, in the news media, overwhelmed and conflicted reporters write stories, which are then picked up by other overwhelmed and conflicted reporters. In Balaji Srinivasan's second appearance on the Tim Ferriss show, which I summarized on episode 274, he describes how a different kind of chain could ensure verifiable truth gets traded up the chain – in this case, a blockchain. Pseudo-events By getting a story into one outlet, then “trading up the chain” to get it covered in another, you're creating a “pseudo-event.” If you remember my summary of The Image on episode 257, author Daniel J. Boorstin describes pseudo-events as fake events that are deliberately placed in the news, so that they become real. Holiday created a lot of pseudo-events for Max when his movie based upon his book, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, was debuting. He bought ads in newspapers around the country, then sent anonymous complaints to the newspapers, leaking those complaints to blogs, to get coverage. He notified college LGBT and women's rights groups of screenings, so they would protest at theaters and the nightly news would cover it. He bought a billboard, defaced it, and reported it to journalists to get news coverage. It seems almost certain that the Russian Internet Research Agency read Holiday's book. They spent many years – and probably still are – hacking public opinion in the U.S. and in other countries, creating Facebook pages for various causes, “astroturfing” those pages with activity from fake profiles, then using that influence make real-life events happen. For example, in 2016 they organized opposing protests – one through the Facebook group, “Heart of Texas,” the other for “United Muslims of America” – at the same time, on the same day, across the street from each other. Trading sensationalism up the chain for free advertising Holiday says his “leveraged advertising strategy” of running sensational ads for American Apparel just to get news coverage was responsible for 50% growth in online sales in three years with “a miniscule ad budget.” He says he deliberately designed ads that would inspire outrage: dressing up kids like adults, putting clothes on dogs, or writing ad copy that didn't make sense. When he couldn't use some promotional Halloween costume photos, because of copyright concerns, he had one of his employees leak them to Gawker and Jezebel, where they were covered in an article that got ninety-thousand views. He ran ads on small websites, featuring porn actress Sasha Grey, completely nude. The ads were covered by Nerve, Buzzfeed, Fast Company, Jezebel, and more. All this coverage for just $1,200 in ads (though it's not clear how much he paid Grey). He says, “my strategy has always been: If I want to be written about, I do things they have to write about.” This is how, according to Holiday, Donald Trump got $4.6 billion of free publicity during his presidential campaign. Pseudo-events for reputational damage control Because of the way the media works, Holiday says if a client of his is in trouble, the best strategy is to create what's essentially a pseudo-event. A major newspaper wrote a hit piece on a client of Holiday's. The journalist who wrote the hit piece was also running a hate blog about the client's company on the side. The client complained to the journalist's editor, but they didn't seem to care. So, Holiday advised his client to write an internal memo to his company, then forward that memo to a competing outlet, which published an article with the memo. The memo was apparently quite damning, because the original newspaper had no choice but to respond. Because bloggers aren't incentivized to care about the truth, and readers are attracted to drama, Holiday says there's no point in trying to correct something that's been said about you in the media. If you want to try, he says, “be prepared to have to be an obsequious douche. You've got to flatter bloggers into thinking that somehow the mistake wasn't their fault.” Ways of using these tactics that are less...gross I personally can't judge Holiday for using these tactics. The medium is the message; as one of Holiday's chapters proclaims, “everyone else is doing it”; and there's no denying that Holiday is good at getting coverage for himself and his clients. But, I'm probably not the only one uncomfortable with impersonating others and lying to get coverage. You can still learn a lot from Trust Me, I'm Lying. Trade up the chain Trading up the chain is a completely legitimate tactic. If you want coverage somewhere, pay attention to where they get their story ideas, and what stories they like to cover. This applies to influencers, too. I no longer interview people on this podcast, but I get so many pitches that are totally irrelevant. You have a better chance of, say, getting interviewed on a podcast, if you tailor your pitch to the target show. And if you get coverage from a micro-influencer that influences a bigger influencer, you might move up the chain. Be remarkable While anger gets a lot of attention, you don't have to be negative in your marketing. You can instead be remarkable – what Seth Godin calls a Purple Cow. I love the ridiculous book titles of author Chuck Tingle. Are you ready for this? How could you not laugh when you hear the title, Domald Tromp Pounded in the Butt By the Handsome Russian T-Rex Who Also Peed On His Butt And Then Blackmailed Him With the Videos Of His Butt Getting Peed On. Even if you don't buy one of his books, his titles are attention-grabbing and spread. Bread Face Blog makes a living smashing bread with her face. It's so absurd, it has to attract attention. The Instagram algorithm sees that attention, and gets her videos in front of more people. The New York Times had to write about her – how could they not? Create a message for the medium If the medium is the message, create a message for the medium. Whatever you're creating, think about how it spreads through media, whether that's social media, traditional media, or word-of-mouth. Lately, I've been seeing how people on Instagram share highlights of quotes in books. It makes sense to have larger pull quotes in my next book, so they have something pretty to take a picture of. Have you been to a restaurant or event where there's a decorated nook specifically for taking photos and sharing them on social media? Not an accident. While researching Times Square ad space for my own publicity stunt I'm working on, I saw one fact sheet point out that Times Square was “the third-most Instagrammed location in the world.” Point being if you put up an ad there, lots of people bragging to their friends about their trips to New York will spread your ad for you. When I write a title of a book, I ask myself if it passes the “cocktail party test.” How would it feel to tell someone at a cocktail party you're reading a book by this title? Proud and strong? Good. Embarrassed or weak? Bad. Mind Management, Not Time Management is what I call a “turnkey title.” The title alone makes a statement you can use, without reading the book. It helps make it memorable, so it spreads. Create pseudo-events Today's media is increasingly participatory. People are not just consumers of media, but also makers of media. By creating pseudo-events, you can get more out of the media you create. I recently saw a cool video on TikTok, showing the process of making a video that showed the process of making a pizza. I know, meta, right? It's a pseudo-event. The video of them making pizza was made for the media. The video of them making the video making pizza made me think they're really good cinematographers. Of course, they teased the original video at the end of the cinematography video, and I had to go watch it. Many readers of the books I write also write books. So, my KDP income reports are essentially pseudo-events. One reason they exist is, I have a business writing books for people who write books, and they show that I know how to run a business writing books. They attract the attention of people who will like my books. Be careful Trust Me, I'm Lying is a must-read for anyone doing anything with media. But be careful what you do with these tactics. I know I've heard Tucker Max lament the reputation he's gained as a result of the tactics in the book. I've also heard Max say the same for Holiday – that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to write a book that says he's a liar right in the title. As Holiday warns, “if you chase the kind of attention I chased, and use the tactics I've used, there will be blowback.” There's your Trust Me, I'm Lying book summary Not all of the book is tactics. Much of it is more media commentary, with some media history sprinkled in, and some airing of grievances Holiday has with various journalists and media outlets. Despite the damage Holiday may have done to his reputation by writing Trust Me, I'm Lying, I really appreciate the book, and it took guts to confess to the things he did in the book. It's on my list of best media books. About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email Support the show on Patreon Put your money where your mind is. Patreon lets you support independent creators like me. Support now on Patreon »       Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/trust-me-im-lying-summary/

Mike Florio is an activist posing as a reporter, trying to get advertisers to drop Aaron Rodgers. Biden yells in another press conference. The quest to cancel Dave Portnoy is not going so well for Business Insider. It's revealed that CEO Henry Blodget has problems with the SEC over fraud, as the Julia Black article faces more scrutiny. And more!   Want extra content?  Get daily livestreams and one extra show per week on Locals: callahan.locals.com

Shares of Facebook are on the rise despite a slew of negative headlines shrouding the social media company. CNBC's Julia Boorstin reports on the company's latest quarterly earnings and discusses Mark Zuckerberg's response to the leaked “Facebook Papers.” Henry Blodget, Insider Inc. co-founder, CEO and editorial director, weighs in on Facebook's reputation and its potential to overcome the drama. As lawmakers inch closer to finalizing their social spending package, Senate Democrats are eyeing a tax on billionaires to help fund the plan. CNBC's Robert Frank discusses how billionaires are reacting to the Democrats' plan to target their unrealized capital gains; economics professor and former Bernie Sanders advisor Stephanie Kelton joins Loren Ponds, tax policy co-lead at Miller and Chevalier, to break down the battle against the billionaires' billions. Plus, Elon Musk's net worth is soaring as Tesla hits a trillion dollar market cap, and Cathie Wood weighs in on the inflation debate on Twitter. In this episode:Julia Boorstin, @JBoorstinHenry Blodget, @hblodgetStephanie Kelton, @StephanieKeltonLoren Ponds, @millerchevalierRobert Frank, @robtfrankBecky Quick, @BeckyQuickJoe Kernen, @JoeSquawkAndrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin

This week’s Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher speaking with Henry Blodget, co-founder and CEO of Insider, Inc., and a former top-ranked Internet stock analyst. Blodget was pitched an investment in Bitcoin (BTC-USD) all the way back in 2011 (price then was about $80 per coin). His conclusion then was that Bitcoin was the perfect asset for a speculative bubble - finite supply, complicated, hard to understand, and with price determined not by any normal valuation metric, but instead completely by supply and demand. Thus, you’ve got downside of “only” 100%, and an upside not limited to any valuation benchmark - $100K per coin, $1M per coin, $10M per coin? Why not? One thing that’s changed since 2011 … Back then, Bitcoin’s backers talked about it as a new type of money or currency. No one really makes that argument anymore. Instead bulls talk about a store-of-value, or a better gold. So don’t expect Bitcoin to disappear, says Blodget. Like gold, it will have its believers for a very long time. But also like gold for very long periods, an investment in Bitcoin may prove to be a dud. Blodget came to some level of notoriety during the dot-com bubble, and he’s seeing some similarities now. In particular, the rolling speculative bubbles of the past year are looking very familiar to him. Checking valuations, he suspects equity returns will be pretty lame over the next decade. However, he would advise against trying to time the peak. Harking back to the mid-late 1990s, there were any number of what appeared to be bell-ringing tops, but the bull market kept getting bigger. There’s plenty more, including Blodget’s view of the outlook on Amazon (AMZN) today, and his thoughts on last week’s mammoth deal for AT&T to sell certain WarnerMedia assets to Discovery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twitter CFO Ned Segal discusses Twitter’s growth strategy in a post-pandemic age of social media. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) efforts to get America’s wealthy to “pay their fair share” have consistently centered billionaire investor Leon Cooperman, a vocal critic of her proposed “wealth tax.” In an extended interview, Cooperman, Omega Family Office Chairman & CEO, defends his position on taxes, philanthropy, and Senator Warren herself. Insider, Inc. CEO Henry Blodget unpacks Amazon’s blowout financial performance in the first quarter of 2021, and speculates on what’s next for the behemoth of Bezos. Plus, Apple is under scrutiny in the EU, and the Squawk Box anchors are taking their vitamins.

Family office Archegos Capital was forced to liquidate tens of billions of dollars in stock holdings, sending U.S. media stocks and Chinese tech stocks into selloff mode, and leaving big financial players on the hook for billions. Archegos founder and former hedge funder Bill Hwang is at the center of the Wall Street whirlwind; Joe, Becky, and Andrew track the series of falling financial dominoes that led to the ViacomCBS, Discovery, Tencent Music, and Baidu losses, from swap strategies and over-leveraged books to block trades at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon considers the implications of the liquidation trade for the rest of the global financial system. Amazon workers in Alabama are voting on a union contract, and Insider Inc. CEO Henry Blodget discusses how the results could impact the company and other workers across the country. Plus, the cargo ship in the Suez Canal has finally been freed. Now, the world is set to assess the damage. 

GameStop shares continue to climb today, keeping alive a rally that restarted this week. In a history lesson soaked in 1990s-nostalgia, Henry Blodget, co-founder and CEO of Insider, says “the entire market is actually at an extreme level relative to all history, including 2000 and that’s because of interest rates.” Etsy blew past earnings estimates. The online retailer has been one of the big pandemic winners with shares up 300% over the past year. Etsy CEO Josh Silverman discusses the company’s quarterly results and its outlook for 2021. Plus, awaiting the newest Covid vaccine from Johnson & Johnson and the latest on the debate to increase the federal minimum wage. 

A discussion about the CNBC interview with Henry Blodget.

Dr. Atul Gawande, Chairman of Haven, surgeon, and staff writer for The New Yorker, shares his expectations for coronavirus vaccine supply and American confidence in preventative drugs. CNBC’s Steve Liesman breaks down results from a CNBC All America Survey, revealing American faith in health care companies and the demographic disparities between those who are wary of and confident in a potential vaccine. Insider’s Henry Blodget unpacks the whirlwind week for tech and suggests that despite some disappointing quarterly reports, big tech will continue to deliver a strong performance for investors. Closing in on Election Day, CNBC’s Dominic Chu reveals how either administration would affect individual sectors.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The upcoming election, Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nominee vote, and ongoing pandemic have painted an uncertain landscape for the health care sector. Ana Gupte, AG Health Advisors principal, shares her health care stock picks amid an uncertain investment landscape. TikTok is safe for American download, at least for now. Insider co-founder and CEO Henry Blodget discusses the platform’s significance in U.S.-China geopolitics, as well as the most realistic next steps for the platform and the Trump administration. Plus, CNBC’s Robert Frank unpacks The New York Times report on President Trump’s federal income taxes, and CNBC’s Eamon Javers maps out the likelihood of Amy Coney Barrett’s SCOTUS confirmation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TikTok and WeChat downloads in the U.S. might be banned by Sunday. Oracle, Bytedance and Walmart are on the clock to find a deal for the TikTok’s U.S. business that President Trump will approve. CNBC’s Eamon Javers and Deirdre Bosa explain the TikTok soap opera, and Insider’s Henry Blodget discusses the app battle’s implications for President Trump’s relationship with China. Former FDA head Dr. Scott Gottlieb underlines the key for a safe, effective vaccine. Plus, Friday sports bets, and brainstorming Squawk Box’s first viral dance video.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Insider Inc. CEO Henry Blodget joins AdExchanger to talk about how he’s steering his company during the coronavirus outbreak – and his critiques of the too-little-too-late response by the US and if the current stimulus package is enough to help the economy.

In this episode, Tej Singh and Abhinav Karale interview Henry Blodget, the Co-founder & CEO of Insider Inc., the parent company of Business Insider (66 million social media followers), Insider (137 million social media followers), and other online media juggernauts. Insider Inc.'s content reaches 375+ million people and helps shape the world's collective conscience. We dive into Henry's eclectic past, discussing everything from how he spent a year teaching English in Japan to why he then moved to San Francisco and supported himself by giving tennis lessons. We also discuss the founding of Business Insider and the goal Blodget had "to put the fun back in business" by making light of people in the news and of himself. Other topics include the modern media landscape, selling his company to the multi-billion dollar publishing house Axel Springer, and the scariest thing Henry has ever done for fun.

It seems like not a week goes by without another online publisher announcing a subscription paywall, but that didn’t make me any less surprised when Business Insider debuted its own paid subscription product. Founded in 2007 by Henry Blodget, Business Insider took boring, staid business reporting and curated it with a bloggy, conversational voice. Funded by digital advertising, BI tested the theory that a digital media company could scale its way to profitability with free content. But in 2015, Business Insider was acquired by Axel Springer, a German media company that fiercely protects its intellectual property and is a firm believer that consumers should pay for content. In 2017, Business Insider launched Prime, a subscription product which places some of this site’s daily reporting behind a paywall. Though it still publishes plenty of free content, you’ll have to cough up around $10 a month if you want to access its most deeply-reported articles. To get insights into Business Insider’s paywall strategy, I interviewed Claudius Senst, its head of consumer subscriptions. I asked him how editors decide whether to place an article behind the paywall, what converts readers into paying subscribers, and why Business Insider didn’t follow in the footsteps of The Washington Post and New York Times by launching a metered paywall.

Die Medien-Woche AUsgabe 76 vom 15. März 2019 mit diesen Themen: 1. Matusseks “Skandal”-Geburtstag https://meedia.de/2019/03/11/skandaelchen-am-bueffet-matthias-matussek-feierte-seinen-geburtstag-mit-alten-medien-freunden-und-neuen-rechten/ http://www.taz.de/Beckmann-beim-Geburtstag-von-Matussek/!5579268/?fbclid=IwAR0ImvmjUeDYjSqJ8gEN4ik6nTm5Ns4BNc0BFcrf72cYR1qsTtq3yBY0gTU 2. "Lügenpresse"-Zwischenfall beim ZDF-"MoMa" https://meedia.de/2019/03/13/luegenpresse-zwischenfall-im-morgenmagazin-zuschauerin-beschimpft-dunja-hayali-waehrend-live-sendung/ 3. Business Insider zieht nach Berlin/Henry Blodget im O-Ton https://meedia.de/2019/03/07/fuehrende-marke-im-wirtschaftsjournalismus-springer-holt-deutschen-business-insider-nach-berlin-und-stockt-redaktion-auf/ https://meedia.de/2018/05/02/wodka-statt-wirtschaft-die-ernuechternde-wahrheit-ueber-den-deutschen-business-insider/ 4. Spotify beschwert sich über Apple https://meedia.de/2019/03/13/spotify-wirft-apple-unfairen-wettbewerb-vor-andere-unternehmen-in-der-branche-sind-ebenso-frustriert/ https://www.timetoplayfair.com/ https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-03-13/consumers-and-innovators-win-on-a-level-playing-field/ http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/eu-kommission-will-apple-auf-marktbeherrschende-stellung-pruefen-a-1257934.html 4. RTL Group legt Zahlen vor https://www.welt.de/kultur/medien/article190330641/Streaming-Netflix-Apple-und-Co-sind-fuer-RTL-Freunde-und-Feinde.html https://meedia.de/2019/03/13/jahresbilanz-2018-rtl-kaempft-mit-schwachen-werbeerloesen-und-investiert-350-millionen-euro-in-streamingdienste/

During the dot-com bubble, Henry Blodget was making millions of dollars as a top analyst on Wall Street. But when that bubble burst, his fortunes changed. He became the public face of a corruption investigation that ended with the SEC banning him from the securities industry — for life. Henry tells Alex about the supreme shame of that moment, and about how he eventually started over by founding a new venture, Business Insider.

During the dot-com bubble, Henry Blodget was making millions of dollars as a top analyst on Wall Street. But when that bubble burst, his fortunes changed. He became the public face of a Wall Street corruption investigation that ended with the SEC banning him from the securities industry — for life. Henry tells Alex about the supreme shame of that moment, and about how he eventually started over by founding a new venture, Business Insider.

On this week's Digiday Podcast, CEO and co-founder of Business Insider Henry Blodget said the publisher, which has over 10 million followers across social media platforms, is not trying to grow reach anymore. As the publisher's focus shifts to deepened engagement and frequency, it faces questions: whether an ad-driven model is better than a subscription model, how to monetize social and web video and how to approach the ever-growing need for video on platforms. Blodget answers these questions and more in the episode.

Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about why he sold the company to German publisher Axel Springer and why BI is moving toward paid newspaper-like subscriptions. Blodget says digital media is "as different from print and TV as they are from each other" and explains why cloning a newspaper for the web will never work. He also talks about why he took Donald Trump seriously from day one and says that despite a smart campaign, the new president is now advocating "un-American and anti-American" policies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry Blodget is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Business Insider. In this in-depth interview, he explains how he created one of the most successful business publications in the world, from the jaws of ‘humiliating’ defeat - taking the site to 100 million readers, 300 employees, and a $343m sale. The self-confessed ‘news addict' argues we're in the ‘golden age’ of journalism; welcomes Facebook as a generator of traffic and not as competitor; shares an innovative idea to fund struggling local newspapers; and talks practical techniques to encourage clicks - but without crossing into 'brand destroying' clickbait.

Henry Blodget, the former Wall Street Internet analyst who reinvented as a digital news mogul. On NPR One, WRIR, Stitcher and iTunes. Twitter @FullDRadio Facebook.com/FullDRadio

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg View columnist Barry Ritholtz interviews Henry Blodget, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-In-Chief of Business Insider. They discuss the investment banking. This interview aired on Bloomberg Radio.

Michael Covel speaks with Harry Binswanger on today's podcast. Binswanger is an American philosopher, writer, and Objectivist as a long-time associate of Ayn Rand. Binswanger was recently interviewed by Henry Blodget regarding Binswanger's article on the value of the 1%, and Binswanger expands on this in today's interview with Covel. Covel and Binswanger also discuss being inspired by the 1%, and why his article caused such an uproar; the nature of trade; envy and jealousy; understanding where entrepreneurs start and how wealth is created; the bailouts of 2008; Wal-Mart and its many innovations; why money isn't the root of all evil; seeing Ayn Rand's work woven into the cultural fabric; statism; Navigators and the new health care laws; why the wealthiest counties in America all surround Washington, DC; why we're at the "tipping point" in society today; thoughts on Ron Paul vs. the principles of Ayn Rand. Binswanger can be found on HBlist.com and writes a column for Forbes. Free trend following DVD: trendfollowing.com/win.

In trading on Thursday, LinkedIn, the social networking site for career-minded individuals, gained $3.50, or five percent, to $70.32. And, Pandora, the company that lets you design your own internet radio station, added 66 cents, or five percent, closing at $14 a share. Both stocks were highly anticipated before their initial public offerings, and many investors believe they are only a prelude to much bigger stock offerings by Facebook, Groupon, and Twitter.Henry Blodget, CEO and editor of Business Insider, doesn't think it's a bubble. "Tech is in a boom, the internet business is doing extraordinarily well, there are lots of companies that have built real businesses, which is very different than in the 1990s, where so many were just so young," he said.  "In the public markets, the reason people are talking about a bubble is that you see huge first day pops in stock prices, as with LinkedIn. But if you look at the way the stocks have behaved, and you look at some of the underlying fundamentals, there are some that are expensive, but they're just nowhere near the valuations that we saw in the 1990s." Full disclosure: Blodget is known as the former Merrill Lynch analyst, who settled fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2003, not long after the tech bubble of the late 1990s — but he's talking to us as a journalist. He'll explain what makes tech stocks attractive to some investors, and whether New York City can become a center for technology companies to rival Silicon Valley. Word of a new austerity plan for Greece helped markets recover some from losses earlier in the day. The Dow ended at 12,050, down 60 points. The S&P 500 declined 4 points, settling at 1,284. And the Nasdaq actually gained 18 points, closing at 2,687. MarketsWord of a new austerity plan for Greece helped markets recover some from losses earlier on Friday. The Dow ended at 12,050, down 60 points. The S&P 500 declined four points, settling at 1,284. The Nasdaq actually gained 18 points, closing at 2,687.

--{ Men Blowing Bubbles Scoot with Loot---Again: "The Age of International Pirate Pranksters, Their Hand-Picked Governments, Private Banksters, Barricading Themselves for Summer of Riots, While Taxpayers' Money Goes to Bailouts and Buyouts, The IMF May Print Global Currency, It Seems, Fulfilling the Vision of John Maynard Keynes, The Big Boys have Seen It Coming for Years, Trained Police and Military to Take Care of Fears, Plan was Hatched Long Before 9-11, To Send All Their Plunder to Money Heaven, You See Fat Men Round Tables, Giggling Effete, As They Use the World's Slaves to Pay Off Their Debt" © Alan Watt }-- Bretton Woods 1 and 2, Service to World State - Bankers' Socialism, Guaranteed Payment - H.G. Wells, Perfect "Utopia", Born for a Purpose - League of Nations, WWII, United Nations. World Government, Run by "Experts" - Rothschild, Banking Scam - Money - C.G. Darwin, More Sophisticated Form of Slavery. Revolutionary Democracy - Looting - Coin Trick, Nations in Debt, Banker Takeovers - Property Tax - Conology. City of London, G20, Protests - Protesters as "Anarchists" - Slogans, "Summer of Rage" - Riots, Provocateurs - Economic Crash, Rigged Market. Data Overload? - Mental Retreat - What's Happening to People? European Financial Crash - IMF, World Currency - "Vanished" Money - Con-Men at Top - Taxpayer as Guarantor - Gamblers' System. (Articles: ["Activists plot G20 summit mass protests against bankers in City" by Richard Edwards (telegraph.co.uk) - Feb. 27, 2009.] ["Anarchists plan City riot for day G20 leaders arrive in London" by Robert Mendick and Nigel Rosser (dailymail.co.uk) - Feb. 20, 2009.] ["Eastern Europe About To Go Bust, Taking Western Europe With It" by Henry Blodget (businessinsider.com) - Feb. 22, 2009.]) *Title/Poem and Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Feb. 27, 2009 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)