Jim Cramer
Jim Cramer (James J. Cramer) is an American financial television host and former hedge fund manager who has hosted CNBCCNBCCNBC is an American business and financial news cable channel launched by NBC in 1989; it merged with its rival FNN in 1991 and since January 2026 has been part of Versant Media Group, spun off from Comcast.Open the full entry’s Mad MoneyMad MoneyMad Money is a CNBC stock-market program hosted by Jim Cramer that has aired since 2005.Open the full entry since 2005. He founded the hedge fund Cramer, Berkowitz & Co. in 1987 and retired from it at the end of 2000, and in 1996 he co-founded the financial news site TheStreet.com with Martin Peretz, serving as its chairman from 2008 to 2011.
Contents12 sections
Key facts
February 10, 1955Birth in Pennsylvania
James Joseph Cramer was born on February 10, 1955, in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.[1]
1977–1984Journalism and Law School
He graduated from Harvard College in 1977 and then worked for the Tallahassee Democrat, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and The American Lawyer.[2]
He had been editor in chief of The Harvard Crimson; while at Harvard Law School he took on his first client, Martin Peretz, who gave him $500,000 to invest.[1]
He is a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School.[3]
1984–1987Goldman Sachs
After taking the bar exam in 1984 he joined a summer program at Goldman SachsGoldman SachsGoldman Sachs is an American financial services group headquartered in New York whose businesses include investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and wealth management. It traces its origins to the commercial paper business Marcus Goldman founded in 1869; it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 under the ticker GS and became a bank holding company in 2008. David Solomon serves as chairman and chief executive officer.Open the full entry, worked there as a broker for three years and left in 1987.[2]
1987–2000Running a Hedge Fund
In 1987 he founded the hedge fund Cramer, Berkowitz & Co. and became its president.[4]
He raised at least $5 million from each wealthy investor and kept more than 20 percent of the profits; he later admitted of that period, “I had a very bad temper.”[5]
1996–1999Co-Founding TheStreet.com
With Martin Peretz he co-founded the financial news site TheStreet.com, which began operations in June 1996; he was co-chairman from June 1996 to December 1998. A May 1999 filing showed plans to list on NasdaqNasdaqNasdaq is an exchange operator and financial technology company headquartered in New York. It runs The Nasdaq Stock Market and other markets and provides capital markets technology, regulatory technology, and data and index services. Founded in 1971, it combined with OMX AB in 2008, and in March 2026 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved its rules for trading tokenized securities.Open the full entry as TSCM.[4]
2000–2004From Hedge Fund to Media
He retired from Cramer, Berkowitz & Co. at the end of 2000, became an employee of TheStreetTheStreetTheStreet is a U.S. financial news website owned by The Arena Group Holdings, Inc., which does business as Paradium.AI.Open the full entry in 2001, and co-hosted Kudlow & Cramer on CNBC with Larry Kudlow from 2003 through December 2004.[6]
2005Launch of Mad Money
In 2005 he began hosting Mad Money, a CNBC stock show that within months became the network’s most popular program, with more than 380,000 viewers each weeknight; he said the show was a way “to educate, to entertain, to help people make money.”[5]
2008–2011Chairman of TheStreet
He became chairman of TheStreet in October 2008, served until January 2011, and remained a director afterward.[7]
2017–2019New Contract and Sale of TheStreet
On November 8, 2017, he signed a new four-year agreement with TheStreet starting in 2018, with a guaranteed royalty of at least $2 million a year; in 2017 he received $3,050,000 from the company.[7]
On August 7, 2019, TheStreet was acquired by TheMaven; total consideration to shareholders was about $16.5 million, and he and the other directors resigned from the board at closing.[8]
2021CNBC Investing Club
In 2021 he launched the CNBC Investing Club membership service.[1]
April 2025Mad Money at 20
In April 2025 he rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell for Mad Money’s 20th anniversary; recalling his positive call on Silicon Valley BankSilicon Valley BankSilicon Valley Bank was a state-chartered commercial bank founded in California in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara. It was the principal subsidiary of the holding company SVB Financial Group, and its clients were concentrated among technology and life sciences companies and venture capital firms. In March 2023, after it announced a securities sale and a capital-raising plan, it suffered a massive run, was closed by California regulators, and was placed into receivership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. U.S. regulators invoked a systemic risk exception to protect all of its deposits, its deposits and loans were then assumed by First Citizens, its parent entered bankruptcy reorganization, and the regulatory reviews and litigation that followed the failure continued into 2026.Open the full entry, he said, “I shouldn’t have said it.”[9]
Sources
- Jim Cramer | Biography, Mad Money, & Facts | Britannica Money (opens in a new window)
- Jim Cramer | Pennsylvania Center for the Book (opens in a new window)
- In the Money (opens in a new window)
- TheStreet.com, Inc. Form S-1/A (Amendment to Registration Statement) (opens in a new window)
- Mad Money Man Jim Cramer (opens in a new window)
- TheStreet.com, Inc. Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A), 2009 (opens in a new window)
- TheStreet, Inc. Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A), 2018 (opens in a new window)
- TheStreet, Inc. Form 8-K (Completion of Merger with TheMaven, Inc.) (opens in a new window)
- Jim Cramer Talks SpinCo, John Oliver, and 20 Years of Mad Money (opens in a new window)