Tag Archives: Jim Cramer
Why there are no leaks from “Mad Money”
by Chris Roush
Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider writes about the lack of lacks about the content produced for “Mad Money,” the CNBC investing show hosted by Jim Cramer.
Weisenthal writes, “We’re here at the NYSE, where we just listened to Mad Money host and all around media guru Jim Cramer talk about his day, and what goes into Mad Money.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we’ll get into, but there was one thing that struck us particularly interesting: Why don’t any of Cramer’s recommendations ever leak out, given that the show is recorded right at 4 PM, and doesn’t air until later in the evening?
“He explained, only 5 people ever see the script, and then: ‘If I fear someone has leaked, I fire them.’ He might ask questions later, but there is ‘No due process.’
“Furthermore, anyone who calls in to ask a question is on mute, and can’t hear any of the show while they wait.”
WSJ names digital editor for markets
by Chris Roush
Francesco Guerrera, the editor of the money and investing section of The Wall Street Journal, made the following staff announcement on Tuesday:
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Janet Paskin as Digital Editor, Markets.
In her new role, Janet will oversee and manage the new Markets’ Stream story and mobile application, as well as taking responsibility for driving online coverage by the Money & Investing Group.
A talented journalist with vast experience in both print and online, Janet has been the editor of Smartmoney.com and personal finance editor of WSJ.com for the past 18 months. During her tenure she led an overhaul of the look and feel of the SmartMoney website, adding new features and refreshing its design. The results have been excellent, with traffic to articles increasing more than 40% in 2011.
Before that, Janet worked as a reporter at SmartMoney magazine and Money magazine – honing skills first developed as a ferocious sports reporter in Long Island and Philadelphia.
Janet will co-report to Francesco and Raju and work very closely with our first-class online team that includes Brian Hershberg, the real-time deputy for the Markets desk; Stephen Grocer, M&I’S Blogs Editor; and WSJ.com’s Kate Milani on the Hub.
Please join us in welcoming Janet to her new role.
Cramer visits Business Insider
by Chris Roush
Jim Cramer, the host of “Mad Money” on CNBC, visited the newsroom of The Business Insider and talked with founder Henry Blodget and reporter Joe Weisenthal.
Photo courtesy of Ellis Hamburger of Business Insider.
CNBC makes changes to “Squawk Box,” “Squawk on the Street”
by Chris Roush
The following announcement was sent by CNBC senior vice president Nik Deogun on Sunday:
In the world of business news, Squawk Box and Squawk on the Street are essential viewing for individual investors and hedge-fund managers, chief executives and small-business owners, politicians and policy makers. These programs routinely move markets with breaking news and penetrating interviews, using a mix of wisdom and wit to engage viewers.
That has been the driving force and spirit of Squawk Box since Mark Haines captained the original ship and guided the expansion of the Squawk franchise with the launch of Squawk on the Street more than five years ago.
With that spirit in mind, it’s time to introduce the next incarnation of Squawk.
I’m pleased to announce that Carl Quintanilla, Melissa Lee, Jim Cramer, Simon Hobbs and David Faber will now all contribute to Squawk on the Street weekday mornings.
Melissa and Carl will host from 9-11am, with Jim Cramer as a frequent contributor from 9-10am. Simon Hobbs, who has done a tremendous job on Squawk on the Street, will co-host the 10am hour every day with Melissa and Carl. David Faber will continue in his current role on Squawk on the Street with the “Faber Report.”
Melissa will continue to anchor Fast Money at 5pm, and Jim will keep hosting Mad Money w/Jim Cramer at 6pm.
Scott Wapner, who has done an excellent job with the Fast Money Halftime Report during this interim period, will host that program.
Matt Quayle will steer the course for both programs as Executive Producer. Finally, I’m announcing that Todd Bonin will move over from Squawk Box to become Supervising Producer of Squawk on the Street. Todd has done fantastic work with Squawk Box and I’m confident that he will team up with the tenacious and talented Jason Gewirtz to help take Squawk on the Street to the next level.
Please join me in congratulating everyone on their new assignments.
Cramer is the big bang of financial blogging
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Barry Ritholtz, commenting on the New York Times Magazine piece about CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer, notes that a lot of business journalists owe their careers to him because of his co-founding of TheStreet.com.
Ritholtz writes, “You may not know this, but TheStreet.com was a factory that churned out award winning journalists and market beating fund managers like Hershey’s kisses. Josh Brown, once likened TheStreet.com to the ‘Motown Records of the Financial Web.’ They were the farm team for the world of financial reporting, where the media bigs came to look for the next hire.
“The number of people who came out of TSCM to become household names in financial reporting and asset management is quite astonishing: TheStreet.com alumni include Aaron Task (Yahoo Finance), Jesse Eisinger (WSJ/ProPublica) who just won a Pulitzer, Herb Greenberg (CNBC), James Altucher (FT/WSJ), Justin Lahart (WSJ), Paul Kedrosky (Bloomberg), Adam Lashinsky (Fortune), Alex Berenson (NYT), Simon Constable (WSJ), Dave Kansas (WSJ), Gail Griffin, (Barrons), John Edwards (WSJ) David Gaffen (WSJ), Lauuren LaCapra (Reuters), Colin Barr (Fortune), Tim Arango (NYT), Dagen McDowell (Fox), David Reilly (Bloomber/WSJ), Peter Eavis (WSJ). Fund managers like Doug Kass, Whitney Tilson, David Merkel, Jeff Matthews, Helene Meisler, Jon Markman, Todd Harrison, and the list goes on and on. I myself am a proud TSCM alumnus.
“I have on occasion criticized Jim for some position or another he has taken on sub-prime or housing or the Fed, but that comes with the territory. As much as people bash Cramer, consider this: He is the guy who first conceived of Democratizing financial research and reportage. Whatever money he made for clients as a hedge fund manager is far outweighed by his contribution to you, the modern investor.”
Read more here.
Jim Cramer and the stock market
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Zev Chafets profiles CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer for the upcoming edition of the New York Times magazine,
Chafets writes, “Cramer picks stocks on the air, but he is not allowed to own any (the exceptions are shares of TheStreet.com, General Electric, CNBC’s old parent company and Comcast, its new parent company). He runs a charitable portfolio, Action Alerts Plus, which is governed by a trust and is open to public scrutiny. He can’t trade a stock he mentions on the air for at least five business days, and he must hold whatever he buys for at least 30 days. These rules make it impossible for him to engage in the hyperaggressive buying and selling of his hedge-fund days. Still, most years the Action Alerts Plus portfolio has beaten the S.&P. 500.
“Cramer’s flamboyance and cockiness make him an easy target. Some maintain that it is simply impossible for any human to recommend as many stocks as he does (Barron’s, in 2007, put the number at 7,000 a year) and know what he is talking about. Barron’s conceded that Cramer’s advice was ‘generally smart, his knowledge of individual stocks amazingly detailed’ but calculated that his on-air picks trailed the market. This is debatable, since Cramer doesn’t give equal weight to all his recommendations and doesn’t normally tell people when to sell.
“But the more damning criticism of Cramer comes from Wall Street professionals who know how much expertise it takes to make money trading stocks. Amateurs, in their view, don’t stand a chance, and Cramer is merely egging them on. ‘Cramer induces his viewers to do things that are bad for them,’ says David Swensen, who manages Yale University’s endowment. ‘He’s smart enough to know what he’s doing. ‘Mad Money’ delivers a very dangerous message — that individual investors can beat the market with momentum-driven, high-octane trading strategies. There are individuals who do beat the market, but their number is vanishingly small. Cramer is a master manipulator. He has absolutely no accountability. This is serious business; people’s retirements are at stake.’”
Read more here.
Cramer retires "They know nothing" button for Burnett
by Chris Roush
“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer said on the air Friday that he is retiring the “They Know Nothing” button that he uses in honor of CNBC anchor Erin Burnett‘s departure from the business news network.
Michelle Fox of CNBC.com writes, “Burnett thanked the ‘Mad Money’ host for being ‘the best, the greatest, the supporter, the proponent, the funny man, the crazy one, the mad one.’ She called her segments with Cramer the highlight of her day. Cramer, in turn, told Burnett that he was retiring his ‘they know nothing’ button in honor of one of their best moments together.
“Cramer, who teared up several times during the exchange, said the ‘best three minutes’ he has ever done on television was a segment he did with Burnett out of Petra, Jordan.
“‘Your foreign correspondent work is some of the best I’ve ever seen,’ he told Burnett, ‘You are a consummate professional.’
“With that, Burnett thanked her colleagues, friends and the viewers for ‘the best 5 ½ years of my life so far’ and signed off CNBC for the last time.”
Cramer retires “They know nothing” button for Burnett
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“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer said on the air Friday that he is retiring the “They Know Nothing” button that he uses in honor of CNBC anchor Erin Burnett‘s departure from the business news network.
Michelle Fox of CNBC.com writes, “Burnett thanked the ‘Mad Money’ host for being ‘the best, the greatest, the supporter, the proponent, the funny man, the crazy one, the mad one.’ She called her segments with Cramer the highlight of her day. Cramer, in turn, told Burnett that he was retiring his ‘they know nothing’ button in honor of one of their best moments together.
“Cramer, who teared up several times during the exchange, said the ‘best three minutes’ he has ever done on television was a segment he did with Burnett out of Petra, Jordan.
“‘Your foreign correspondent work is some of the best I’ve ever seen,’ he told Burnett, ‘You are a consummate professional.’
“With that, Burnett thanked her colleagues, friends and the viewers for ‘the best 5 ½ years of my life so far’ and signed off CNBC for the last time.”
What I learned from Jim Cramer
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James Altucher writes Monday for The Wall Street Journal what 10 lessons he learned from CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer.
Here are two:
4) Commentary belongs in financial journalism. Cramer changed everything when he started thestreet.com and added commentary from professional investors into the mix. The negative argument was then (and still is) that there is a conflict of interest if someone owns a stock to be then talking about it on a platform meant for serious journalism. But that’s nonsense. Who better to write about a company than someone who has serious resources and used those resources to dig under every rock and uncover as much as they can before putting hard-earned money to work? Journalism has changed over the past 15 years to accept this and move the needle even further but at the time it was a contentious issue.
5) Know everything. I was standing by a TV with Jim once and the ticker was running by at the bottom of the CNBC screen. He started doing a lightning round on every stock going by, telling why each stock was up or down a nickel, a penny, a whatever. He knew every earnings report, every news item that was relevant that day. He doesn’t know every stock (see below) but he does know everything he needs to know for THAT DAY. Whatever field I’ve been in, I’ve always tried to know everything about the competition, the technology, the subtleties and the nuances of the field. Jim has dominated financial media for 20 years by doing this.
Read the rest here.
Rebuilding TheStreet
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Matthew Flamm of Crain’s New York writes Sunday about the overhaul at TheStreet.com, which includes de-emphasizing co-founder Jim Cramer and changing its name to simply TheStreet.
Flamm writes, “In the past year, under CEO Daryl Otte, it has also downsized Mr. Cramer’s presence on its home page and removed him from the chairman’s seat—moves aimed at showcasing a new editorial team and making TheStreet less reliant on its biggest star. Mr. Cramer has long been both an asset and a liability, since investors worry about what TheStreet would be without him.
“But as the company works through a revamp that began with Mr. Otte’s appointment in May 2009, it is holding tight to one part of its heritage: It relies on advertising for only one-third of its revenues and draws the rest from subscriptions.
“With nearly 91,000 subscribers — most of whom were converted to TheStreet’s premium sites from the free flagship, and who now pay $300 to $5,000 a year — the company can boast that it has long been ahead of its time. Sites that rely solely on advertising have been struggling in an increasingly competitive online market.
“Now Mr. Otte is focused on setting up the media company for growth after two straight years of losses.”
Read more here.
