Is Cramer calling it quits? I just read this article at the Fortune website:
fortune.com
Dot-Coms: What Have We
Learned?
Soccer Coach
James Cramer, age 45
New York hedge fund manager Cramer became a
high-profile Net dude when he co-founded
TheStreet.com. The day the company went public, its
stock hit $60; at press time shares were below $4.
By Jerry Useem
First-Person Interviews by Eryn Brown
Photo by Paxton
What I would say to
you is that if
TheStreet.com were a
private company, and
were a magazine,
people would be
astonished at our
success. But we're a
public company and
we're a Website, so
people think that we're
idiots. I think what we've done is
remarkable. But what we failed to do is
tragic. And what's happened is, in all the
confusion and hubbub, we look as if we
don't know what we're doing.
In the very beginning when the company
was set up, I wasn't allowed to run it.
The government asked me not to. So it
was my blueprint but not my execution.
And that two-headed monster--me being
a really visible guy associated with the
site, but not really in charge--is a failure
on my part. If I had been able to pick the
right people from the beginning, this
enterprise could have been hugely
successful as opposed to just kind of
successful.
I blame myself. I blame myself every
single day. I should have realized that it
was not possible to set up an enterprise
and fund it when I could have no control
over it. But that's what I did. And that's
what I pay for every day.
Nobody really cares for the
Internet--except for the newspapers and
magazines that live off the advertising on
it, and people who can't sleep and need
something to do. It has created an
undisciplined culture of slothfulness and
foolishness that's now a culture of
despair.
I'm sorry, I've got to call it like I see it.
You know, there was a period where
there was tremendous value to doing
something different on the Web. But now
all of it looks the same, equally tiresome.
The technology has stalled, and the look
and feel have stalled. It's just not that
interesting. The Internet won't be
embraced correctly until our children take
over. I hope to live to see that.
The idea that you can develop something
for the Net today and have it be
commercially viable is crazy. AOL and
Yahoo have taken 90% of the creativity
and the capital and, at least when it
comes to content, have made the
Internet so that it's even more ossified
and difficult to break into than TV. It
happened in such a short period, it's
astonishing to me. If I had something
that I wanted to do to get people's
attention, I would do it on TV, because
it's easier, cheaper, and a lot more fun.
It's a shame, because the Internet was
really fun for a while. It was fun for about
three or four years. Oh, it was fun. It
was cool. It was a really cool thing. Now
it's just something I wish weren't in front
of me, so I wouldn't have to look at it.
What's next for TheStreet.com? Excuse
my language, but I don't have a fuckin'
clue. It ain't up to me. It never was. I
wish it were. But it wasn't. And that's the
tragedy of the enterprise.
What's next for me? Oh, this unbelievable
project. It's called "Coaching Fifth-Grade
Soccer." There I can accomplish
everything I want in life. I can make
everybody happy at home and have
something to show for it in the end. I'm
done with the material stuff. The
shocking riches-to-rags story that I've
become because of my TheStreet.com
hobby has made me realize that I'm a
darn good hedge fund manager and a real
good dad. I want nothing to do with the
rest of it. |
