It was 20 years ago today(ish) that Jim Cramer taught the CNBC audience to play. The stock market that is.
On Tuesday, the Mad Money host rang in his signature show’s platinum anniversary by ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange alongside his longtime senior executive producer, Regina Gilgan.
And Cramer will continue making stock calls—the good, bad, and the ugly—for the CNBC audience for years to come. Speaking with TVNewser ahead of their NYSE appearance, Cramer and Gilgan confirmed that they’re sticking with the network after it leaves the NBCUniversal News Group family later this year. Along with MSNBC, CNBC is bound for SpinCo—the spin-off company that will house most of NBCU’s cable assets.
That move has widely been interpreted as NBCU’s attempt to divest itself of an increasingly shaky investment. But where others see a crisis, Cramer sees potential opportunity in CNBC’s SpinCo era.
“It’s hard to feel important when you’re with a company where all anyone focuses on is their losses,” he says. “You put out this product, and you know that it’s good for viewers and you’d like to think that you’re making an impact. But if you’re not making an impact for the company that you work for, it becomes a little bit blunted.”
“I look at it like a sports team,” Cramer continues, musing about the possibilities afforded by sticking with SpinCo. “I feel like no matter what I did, I couldn’t score a run. Now, suddenly, we can put points on the board. And I’m excited about that.”
Mad Money is certainly an important brand in CNBC’s portfolio. Since its 2005 launch, the show has developed one of cable television’s most loyal audiences and continues to offer a take on financial coverage that’s been imitated (and parodied) but never exactly replicated.
As the face of the show, Cramer has become both a business world celebrity and a lightning rod for his approach to stock market tips and tricks, which included a controversial call about Bear Sterns on the cusp of the 2008 financial crisis. Over the past two decades, he’s been criticized by tycoons, journalists, and comedian journalists… but through it all he’s remained a business unto himself.
In a freewheeling interview, Cramer and Gilgan reflect on how Mad Money started, where it’s going next, and how they really feel about being regularly ridiculed by John Oliver and the Last Week Tonight team.
