News organizations and titles: Co-founder, director, contributing editor and former co-chairman, TheStreet.com, 1996-present; columnist and contributor to various publications, including Time, GQ, New Republic and Brill's Content; commentator, CNBC; columnist, "The Bottom Line," New York magazine, 1995-97; founder and columnist, SmartMoney, 1992-95; reporter and co-founder, The American Lawyer, 1979-83.
Legacy: Mr. Cramer is a prolific journalist and commentator who often riles the establishment with his pointed criticisms. He represents a new breed of investment writers, not just telling readers his opinions, but also making his living as a money manager. Mr. Cramer is best known as a founder and columnist of TheStreet.com, a paid Internet news service that went public in 1999, making millionaires of some of its principals. The success of the TheStreet.com has whetted the appetite of many business journalists who would like to follow in Mr. Cramer's footsteps.
Personal: Born Feb. 10, 1955.
Family: Wife, Karen, and two daughters.
Education: Harvard College, magna cum laude, 1977; Harvard Law School, J.D., 1984.
What he has said about himself: "People regard my writing as something I'm doing for some bizarre ulterior motive. I write about the market because I like to. I've written 3,000 articles since 1988, and I find it very amusing that people continue to ask why I do this. Journalists want to see 'The Manchurian Candidate' in me. "The Net is my perfect voice."
What he made news or headlines for: As an investor in Dow Jones, he lobbied hard for the company to rid itself of its Telerate division, which it eventually did. In 1995, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Mr. Cramer made more than $2 million on three stocks he had endorsed in a SmartMoney column, accusing him of using his column to inflate low-cap stocks in which he had positions. Both the SEC and Dow Jones investigated the matter and found no wrongdoing.
What others have said about him: David Kansas, editor in chief, TheStreet.com: "Some people hate him, but most people really love him."
Steven Swartz, editor in chief, SmartMoney: Mr. Cramer is "an insider who can explain the markets as well as any journalist I've seen. He's never short of an idea, which is quite charming." Byron Wien, investment strategist at Morgan Stanley: "The market is part of his being. It flows through his veins."