Jim Cramer

Cramer was born to Jewish parents. His mother was an artist and his father owned International Packaging Products in Philadelphia, which sold wrapping paper, boxes and bags to retailers and restaurants. One of his first jobs was selling ice cream at Veterans Stadium during Philadelphia Phillies games. Cramer went to Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County. He lives in Summit, New Jersey.

Cramer began his involvement with journalism in college, working for The Harvard Crimson, and rising to become its president. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a B.A. in government. After graduation, Cramer worked in several entry-level reporting jobs. 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, has said "[Cramer] was like a driving ram. He was great at getting the story." He subsequently worked as a journalist for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. During this time, his apartment was robbed on multiple occasions, eventually costing him all of his possessions and forcing him to live out of his car for several months. He also worked for Governor Jerry Brown.

Cramer was one of the first reporters at American Lawyer. Cramer later earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. During his years at Harvard Law School, 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." Cramer was admitted to the New York Bar in 1985, but his Bar status is currently listed as "suspended."

Cramer started investing in the stock market during his time at law school. Cramer began promoting his holdings by 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 stockbroker with 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, one of his oldest friends, and former Governor of New York who resigned), Brill, and Peretz.

During Cramer's tenure with the fund, from 1988 to 2000, he had one year of negative returns in 1998. The following year the fund returned 47%, and in 2000 28%, beating the S&P 500 by 38 percentage points. 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. During that time, he was also an "editor at large" for SmartMoney magazine, and was accused of unethically combining his investing and reporting activities when he bought stocks that he recommended just before the recommendation article came out, contributing to a $2 million personal gain. Today, Cramer is barred by CNBC from trading stocks with his personal funds although he makes picks and sells his recommendations.

In 1996 Cramer co-founded TheStreet, Inc. [formerly TheStreet.com,Inc.] with The New Republic editor Martin Peretz, one of his hedge fund's original clients. Cramer is currently a market commentator and adviser to the TheStreet, Inc., and is its second-largest shareholder. Cramer also manages a charitable trust stock portfolio which is tied to TheStreet, Inc. through a paid subscription service called the Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio. Cramer owns a 10 per cent stake of TheStreet, the market value of which peaked once at $1.7 billion but by 2014 the Nasdaq-listed company was worth less than $80 million.

Cramer currently works on a new project as part of TheStreet, Inc., called MainStreet.com. An earlier project, TheRoad.com, was not successful.

Cramer claimed to be worth $50 to $100 million in October 2005. In 2009, Cramer received earnings of $461,276 from TheStreet, Inc.

The cable television program Mad Money with Jim Cramer first aired on CNBC in 2005. According to 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 many segments, including: The Lightning Round, Game Plan, Execution Decision, Off the Charts, Sell Block, Market Marshmallows, Outrage of the Day, Mad Bull Disease, Am I Diversified, and Mad Mail.

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.

Cramer hosted a one-hour radio show, Jim Cramer's Real Money, until December 2006. "Take the money and run" by the Steve Miller Band was the intro to each of his radio shows. 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.

On November 13, 2005, Dan Rather did a sit-down interview with Cramer on 60 Minutes. Among the topics of discussion were Cramer's past at his hedge fund; for example, his violent temper, and what finally led him to come to his senses and "calm down." Footage of Cramer at his family home with his daughters and wife was also included. On November 15, 2005, Cramer mentioned on his program that he received hundreds of e-mails after his 60 Minutes interview. This report was taped before Cramer's radio show, Smart Money with Jim Cramer moved to WOR and became syndicated under the CBS Radio banner.

In 2005, Cramer appeared as himself in two episodes of the television series Arrested Development. He appeared to first announce that he had upgraded Bluth Company stock to a "Don't Buy" from a "Triple Sell," and then to say that the stock was not a "Don't Buy" anymore, but a "Risky."

Cramer has also made appearances on NBC's Today, NBC Nightly News, Live with Regis and Kelly, ESPN Classic's Cheap Seats, NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! and NBC's The Apprentice called "The Celebrity Apprentice."

Cramer also appeared in the 2008 motion picture Iron Man spoofing Stark Industries on his show Mad Money. and appears in the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. He also claims to have consulted for the original Wall Street movie by telling the filmmakers how he would get through to Gordon Gekko.

On March 12, 2009, Jon Stewart interviewed Cramer on The Daily Show and challenged Cramer's recommendations of Bear Stearns.

On November 3, 2009, Cramer appeared on The Martha Stewart Show to promote his new book Getting Back to Even. Cramer stated that it was a great time to invest in real estate and that he had recently purchased the DeBary Inn in Summit, New Jersey.