Stocks analyst Jim Cramer, best known as one of the founders of TheStreet.com and now host of his own show “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” polarizes audiences. You cannot deny that he is a great showman, but his success has also led many skeptics to question his abilities as a Stock Market Analyst.
Cramer grew up in a small town just out of Philadelphia. It is said that he first learned the value of a dollar by selling ice cream at Philadelphia Phillies games. Cramer graduated from Harvard College in 1977. He edited the Harvard Crimson during College, so his first jobs outside university were as a journalist, first at the Tallahassee Democrat and then at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.
Cramer later went back and studied a Law Degree at Harvard, and after graduating in 1984 went to work in the Sales and trading Department at Goldman Sachs. From his position here, Cramer went on to start his own hedge fund company in 1987. This was the start of Cramer’s Wall Street career.
Cramer later co-founded TheSteet.com and now is the Markets Commentator and advisor to the CEO. He later went on to television with CNBC, hosting on America Now and Kudlow and Cramer, which he co-host with Lawrence Kudlow. Now Cramer hosts the show he is probably best known for, “Mad Money with Jim Cramer.”
The most popular segment in Cramer’s show is the “Lightning Round.” The Lightning Round sees Cramer deliver brief analyses of stocks that are suggested by callers to the show. He has become known for his insane showy antics. These include his use of the catchphrase “Booyah” which seems to have taken the form of a greeting as well as an enthusiastic celebration. He is also well known for throwing chairs across the room before the Lightning Round as well as throwing his books across the room if they are mentioned by callers. His antics have led to Mad Money being one of CNBC’s most popular shows.
Despite Cramer's lofty claims for his hedge fund's returns, there has never been any independent audit of those returns. This is one of the major criticisms of Cramer. He makes old and lofty claims which do not seem to be backed up. Cramer has been criticized by Slate columnist Henry Blodget. Blodget wrote an article in early 2007 called Pay No Attention to That Crazy Man on TV." He claimed that Cramer overstated his abilities. He stated that Cramer’s suggested 2006 portfolio lost money "despite nearly every major equity market on earth being up between about 15 percent and 30 percent."
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