Media: ‘Mad Money’ guru says it’s time to dump GateHouse
By Billy DennisFebruary 29th, 2008
Jim Cramer, the easily agitated host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” program, doesn’t think much of GateHouse Media or the investment company that owns it:
Fortress Investment Group’s IPO might have been a boon for its partners, Cramer said, but it was a bust for investors.
Chairman and CEO Wesley Edens cashed in over $200 million in stock that day in February 2007. Some partners took home as much as $100 million. But investors who bought the stock at its hyped-up $35 opening – despite being priced at $18.50 – are deep in the red. Fortress
Fortress Investment Group LLC closed Thursday at $14.42.FIG’s holdings – Gate House Media, Aircastle and Brookdale Senior Living are sucking wind. So much so that Cramer said he thinks the company’s dividend is at risk. Especially if a Democrat takes the White House and raises taxes – right when FIG can least afford it.
Gatehouse owns the Peoria Journal Star and virtually every single daily and weekly newspaper in this part of Illinois.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Cramer’s best line in the video is “No one can really figure out what the heck Fortress does.” That could be said about any private equity firm. The piece also answers the question of why FIG went public: OPM.
Cramer showed his ignorance by referring to the “B-52 Flying Fortress.” He partially redeemed himself with the obscure reference to Fort Eben-Emael. I can picture Obama gliding onto FIG’s roof, ready to take it out with shaped charges.