FxStacey

Hey everyone,
I was wondering if you could tell me more about Jim Cramer and what exactly is Mad Money? I know it is on CNBC but why is it such a closely followed show and what is Jim Cramer's past that makes him so widely followed?

Brendan Egan

Hi Stacey,
I was able to do some quick research online and found out the following about Jim Cramer:

James Joseph "Jim" Cramer (born February 10, 1955)is an American self-proclaimed infotainer, a television personality, a former hedge fund manager, and a best-selling author. Cramer is the host of CNBC's Mad Money and a co-founder of TheStreet.com. He is also a regular contributor to New York magazine and an occasional contributor to Time Magazine.

Journalist

He began his journalism career in college, working for the Crimson, and rising to become its president. Upon graduating, Cramer worked his way through several entry-level reporting jobs in search of his big writing break. Dating back to March 1, 1978, Cramer worked for the Tallahassee Democrat in Tallahassee, Florida, where he covered the Ted Bundy murders. The then-executive editor, Richard Oppel, says "[Cramer] was like a driving ram. He was great at getting the story."

He then worked as a journalist for The Los Angeles Herald Examiner. Around this time, his apartment was robbed by a stalker and he was left with nothing more than his car and the things in it; he lived out of it for about nine months. He also worked for Governor Jerry Brown temporarily.

Lawyer

Following this experience, Cramer moved in with his sister in Greenwich Village. His sister was studying to be a lawyer and encouraged Cramer to become a prosecutor. Cramer was one of the earliest reporters at American Lawyer. Cramer later earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. During his years at Harvard, Cramer worked as a research assistant for Alan Dershowitz. He assisted Dershowitz's campaign to acquit alleged murderer Claus von Bülow despite the fact that Cramer admitted to himself that von Bülow was "supremely guilty". His plans to become a prosecutor were dashed when he was denied employment with the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, headed at the time by Rudy Giuliani, because his law school grades were deemed not good enough.Cramer was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in 1985, but he is currently not a member.

Investor

Cramer started privately investing in the stock market during his time at law school, using his student loans. Cramer began leaving stock picks on his answering machine, impressing The New Republic owner Martin Peretz, who gave him $500,000 to invest; Cramer earned Peretz $150,000 in two years.

His track record helped Cramer obtain employment in 1984 as a stock broker in Goldman Sachs' Private Wealth Management division. Cramer's success in this position led him to found his own hedge fund, Cramer & Co. (later Cramer, Berkowitz, & Co.), in 1987. The fund operated out of the offices of hedge fund pioneer Michael Steinhardt's Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., and early investors included Eliot Spitzer (a Harvard classmate and one of his oldest friends), Brill, and Peretz.

A year later, Cramer married Karen Backfisch-Olufsen, a trader with Steinhardt's firm.[citation needed] Cramer's fund had one down year from 1988-2000 while he ran it, in 1998, a year that was disastrous for many in the industry. Cramer, Berkowitz finished down 2-3% and they did not charge a management fee that year to their clients. In 1999 the fund returned 47%; in 2000 28%, beating the S&P 500 by 38 percentage points.[6] Cramer retired from his hedge fund in 2001, finishing with a 24% average annual return over 14 years and having "routinely [taken] home $10 million a year and more. The fund was taken over by his former partner Jeff Berkowitz after Cramer's retirement.

Cramer claimed to be worth $50 to $100 million in October 2005. He no longer owns any stock other than his stake in TheStreet.com, trading only for his charitable trust.

TheStreet.com

In 1996 Cramer co-founded TheStreet.com with The New Republic editor Martin Peretz, one of his hedge fund's original clients. Cramer later had a falling out with Peretz over business matters. Cramer is currently a market commentator and adviser to the TheStreet.com, as well as its largest shareholder. Cramer also manages a charitable trust stock portfolio which is tied to TheStreet.com through a subscription service called the Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio. Cramer currently works on a new project, MainStreet.com. An earlier similar project, TheRoad.com, did not yield the success Cramer had anticipated.[citation needed]

Mad Money

The cable television program Mad Money with Jim Cramer began on CNBC in 2005. As mentioned on CNBC's Web site in an article titled, "Mad Money Manifesto" by Jim Cramer, the show's mission statement and Cramer's job

"...is not to tell you what to think, but to teach you how to think about the market like a pro. This show is not about picking stocks. It's not about giving you tips that will make you money overnight – tips are for waiters. Our mission is educational, to teach you how to analyze stocks and the market through the prism of events."

To provide viewers with "the knowledge and the tools that will empower you to be a better investor," Mad Money features nine segments: The Lightning Round, Game Plan, Execution Decision, Mad Bull Disease, Off the Charts, Sell Block, Sudden Death, Am I Diversified, Market Marshmallows, and Mad Mail.

Other television and radio shows

After being a frequent guest commentator on CNBC in the late 1990s, Cramer co-hosted CNBC shows America Now and Kudlow & Cramer with Lawrence Kudlow in the early 2000s. They split when Cramer called Kudlow "sweet potato bull macho" on air.

Cramer hosted a one-hour radio show, Jim Cramer's Real Money, until December 2006. The show was similar to his Mad Money TV show. He also guest-hosted in the slot caused by the cancellation of Imus in the Morning (MSNBC and WFAN/Westwood One) in May 2007.

Courtesy of Wikipedia