Jim Cramer and CNBC’s “Mad Money” came to the Thurber Theatre at the Drake Union on Wednesday for a taping of the popular financial show.
Ohio State was just one of many stops on the “Mad Money Back to School Tour.” The event was sponsored by the university and the Fisher College of Business.
CAMERON SHARP/THE LANTERNJim Cramer, host of Mad Money, came to OSU’s campus yesterday as a stop on his “Back to School” college campus tour.”.The show’s two hour taping had a late start as the Dow Jones dropped increasingly in the moments leading up to the taping.
The main theme of the show was financial breadth, with Cramer using a pyramid of Listerine and onions to compare it to breath.
“I will do anything to make a topic come to life,” Cramer said. “All my great teachers tried to make me remember things by whatever interesting or funny way they could.”
Among his various stock predictions, Cramer also reiterated the prediction he made last year that the housing market will bottom out on June 30 of this year.
Cramer also spoke with Bob Toll, the CEO and co-founder of the Toll Brothers, about the current market.
“About 80 percent of the country seems to be on the way back,” Toll said.
Students from the audience also had a chance to go head-to-head with Cramer in the show’s lightning round.
Cramer spoke candidly to the audience about the difficulties of covering a topic that is eternally changing, as well as the more lighthearted topic of the popularity of his show.
“It’s like a YouTube show, which I like. It’s not a nice polished show, which I like,” Cramer said. “I’m not a polished person, I think that’s obvious.”
Being real and honest are two points on which Cramer prides himself.
“I think everyone in this audience sees through people who don’t know what they’re talking about,” Cramer said. “I think every young person realizes that there’s a lot of these people on TV who are shams.”
Cramer the TV personality and Cramer in reality are one in the same, said Matt Bender, a longtime watcher of the show and a junior in marketing and international business.
“I’ve always wondered if he is like he is on the show and he definitely is,” he said. “He’s a very straight-up guy and very entertaining.”
It was clear that Cramer knew his audience, at times shouting “O-H” and agreeing with one student’s recommendation to “buy Ohio State, sell Michigan.”
Cramer called OSU “one of the greatest universities in the country,” both academically and athletically.
Cramer received an enthusiastic welcome from the standing room only Thurber Theatre.
“He’s really good at working on the fly and making stuff up,” said Greg Hertler, a junior in civil engineering. “I’m new to investing, and I learn a lot every time I watch his show.”
Hertler isn’t the only one who learned something.
“I learn more from my viewers and from students than anyone else,” Cramer said.
CNBC’s “Mad Money” airs weeknights at 6 p.m., 11 p.m and midnight.
Lauren Ludlow can be reached at [email protected].
