CNBC’s Jim Cramer is pushing back hard on The Wall Street Journal’s latest reporting on OpenAI, arguing the timing of the story is designed to rattle investors out of tech stocks just as the AI trade was finding its footing.
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Cramer’s ‘Hitjob’ Comments
In a series of social media posts early Tuesday, the “Mad Money” host took direct aim at the Journal’s coverage.
“Journal OpenAI hitjobs perfectly timed to scare everyone out of tech. So amazing…” Cramer wrote.
He followed up minutes later, posting, “Doesn’t everyone marvel as I do of the exquisite timing of this Journal evergreen hitjob? Timing is everything.”
Cramer also defended OpenAI’s underlying business, adding “The bottom line: they are short compute and Codex is on fire…”
What The WSJ Reported
The Journal’s report, published late Monday, said OpenAI recently fell short of internal targets for both new user growth and revenue, prompting CFO Sarah Friar to warn senior leaders the company may struggle to fund its enormous data-center commitments if revenue doesn’t accelerate, according to the WSJ.
Sources told the paper ChatGPT missed its goal of 1 billion weekly active users by year-end, and Friar has reportedly expressed reservations about going public this year.
Why Timing Matters
The story landed the same week OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) unveiled a revised partnership giving the startup more freedom and capping revenue-share obligations through 2030 — and ahead of OpenAI’s anticipated fourth-quarter IPO.
Tuesday’s report dragged the broader compute complex lower in early trading.
Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL), which is on the hook to build roughly $300 billion in data-center capacity for OpenAI, slipped along with several AI-linked chip names.
CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV), which just signed an $11.9 billion infrastructure deal with OpenAI, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) also moved lower in response to the report.
But on Tuesday, Cramer's message to investors was clear: don’t let one well-timed story shake positions out of the AI trade.
Photo: Golden Dayz / Shutterstock
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