'Most Remarkable Comeback in Internet History' Near Darien

Henry Blodget, editor in chief of Business Insider website, has just called Priceline.com, the company headquartered just on the Darien-Norwalk border, the business that has made the greatest turnaround in Internet history.

"[T]ake a look at the company that is without a doubt the most remarkable comeback story in the history of the Internet industry," Blodget wrote in an article under the equally loud headline, "The Most Remarkable Comeback Story In Internet History Is Located In... Norwalk, Connecticut."

Priceline.com, which allows customers online to buy "a variety of goods and services, including flights, hotels, car rentals, vacations and cruises," according to its Norwalk Patch directory listing, is located at 800 Connecticut Ave. in Norwalk, in an office park with an entrance in Darien, just across from the exit ramp for eastbound (or "northbound") Interstate 95 traffic.

After encountering difficulties and seeing its stock tank, Blodget wrote in an article posted at 10 a.m. Friday, Priceline "found a management team that was less interested in 'buzz' and 'ideas' and 'stories' than it was in actual performance."

The company has grown so much that it's about to exceed the highest valuation it previously had -- $50 billion. "A $50 billion company!" Blodget enthuses. "In Norwalk, Connecticut!"

Blodget, a former senior analyst with Merrill Lynch, was permanently barred from working in the securities industry in 2003 in an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in which he also paid a $4 million fine.

The SEC said Blodget "issued fraudulent research under Merrill Lynch's name, as well as research in which he expressed views that were inconsistent with privately expressed negative views." Blodget neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

In 2009, Blodget became a co-founder of the Business Insider website.

Blodget's description of the stock's ride is more euphoric than many other accounts in Friday's financial news media, but others seem excited, too.

The Wall Street Journal's "Money Beat" blog (riffing on Priceline ad spokesman William Shatner's former role on "Star Trek") states: "To boldly go where no stock has gone before? Shares of Priceline hit a big milestone [...]"