Bob, I wanna be an analyst too.:-(
>For all the excitement over Amazon, though, Cohen was getting restless at Merrill. And when Wit Capital approached him in early 1999 to talk about joining as director of research, he jumped at the chance. Cohen's bosses spent three days trying to persuade him not to leave Merrill, but Cohen had made up his mind. Despite their differences over Amazon, Cohen actually recommended that Merrill consider the up-and-coming Blodget as his replacement. For Blodget, the move from CIBC Oppenheimer to Merrill was a huge step up in terms of visibility and pay.
The media, of course, put its own spin on the story: Merrill had forced out Cohen the bear in favor of Blodget the Internet true believer. "Cohen may be vindicated someday in his skepticism, but Merrill is not waiting around to find out. The firm replaced him by hiring away Amazon bull Henry Blodget from CIBC Oppenheimer," Forbes concluded soon afterward.
"It made for great copy, but it wasn't true," says Blodget, who clearly hasn't forgotten the lessons he learned as a young reporter. "Jonathan had a very good following, and he wanted to get in on the Net. He walked away with a massive pot of gold." Indeed, Cohen was paid more than $5 million by Wit last year. |
