Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 9/29/25

Summary

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 9/29/25 – Episode Summary

Podcast: Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
Date: September 29, 2025
Host: Jim Cramer (CNBC)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Mad Money sees Jim Cramer navigate the current landscape of Wall Street, focusing on skepticism surrounding the massive AI data center buildout by tech giants, the government's looming shutdown and its market impact, a deep dive into the underwhelming StubHub IPO, and an interview with the incoming and outgoing leadership of Yum Brands. As always, Cramer delivers stock takes in his trademark Lightning Round.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Are We in an AI Bubble Like 2000? Cramer’s Rebuttal

Timestamp: 01:54–09:05

• AI Data Center Skepticism:
  Many critics argue that hyperscalers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Tesla, Alphabet) are overspending on data centers, likening today’s investments to the dot com bubble’s collapse.

• Cramer’s Counter:
  Cramer draws clear distinctions between the 2000 dot com bubble and the current AI-driven expansion:

  • The current investments are largely funded by robust cash flows, not debt.
  • Past failures (vendor financing, mass bankruptcies) are less likely, given the financial health of today's tech companies.
  • AI use cases, like OpenAI’s new partnerships (Etsy, Shopify), continue to multiply and are not just hype.

• AI Differentiation:
  Each tech giant is carving a specific reputation within AI (e.g., Microsoft's enterprise focus, Meta’s work on glasses/humanoids, Tesla's work on autonomy, Amazon's infrastructure/Prime/Alexa, and Apple's potential chatbot for over a billion users).

• Skepticism as a Safety Valve:
  Cramer welcomes skepticism, believing it prevents runaway euphoria.
  Quote: “The skepticism keeps things in check. If there weren’t such a negative bench to the story right now, everyone would be in this pool and we’d all drown.” (08:25)

• Bottom Line:
  The worst-case now is that giants absorb losses and move on, not systemic collapse.

  “When the dot coms made bad investments, nearly all of them went under. But worst case scenario, if Google and Amazon and Meta make bad investments and take big losses, that’s just another day at the office.” (08:49)

2. Lightning Round – Rapid Fire Stock Opinions

Timestamp: 09:05–12:22

Cramer answers viewer calls:

• Signet Jewelers (SIG): Not a great short candidate, “numbers are good.” (09:31)
• Palantir (PLTR): Let run if fundamentals remain strong after pulling original cost basis. (10:11)
• Six Flags (SIX): Too risky, prefers Disney at a reasonable valuation. (11:05)

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3. Government Shutdown Threat – What Does It Mean for Investors?

Timestamp: 14:39–20:15

• Outlook:
  With a shutdown looming, Cramer analyzes historical data on stock market reactions:
  • “Four out of six times stocks actually went up from one week before the shutdown to one week after.” (15:29)
  • The shutdowns typically don’t meaningfully hurt the S&P 500; negatives are mostly short-term and tied to furloughs (800,000–900,000 federal workers).
  • GDP impact exists if the shutdown is prolonged (10–20 basis points per week), but tends to reverse after.
  • Possible disruption: Government economic data delays could complicate Federal Reserve interest rate decisions.

    “If the biggest fear from a government shutdown is delayed data collection, well, that’s not a reason to be concerned.” (19:55)

• Takeaway:
  Don't panic. Historically, markets weather shutdowns well.

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4. StubHub IPO Postmortem

Timestamp: 21:24–27:47

• IPO Performance:
  StubHub’s offering was the worst week for a sizable IPO since 2007. Shares tanked from their debut.
• Problems Identified:
  1. Timing:
     Multiple IPO delays meant going public with deteriorating fundamentals (slowing growth, shrinking profitability).
  2. Regulatory Pressure:
     New FTC rules on price transparency could reduce revenue by ~10%.
  3. Consumer Weakness:
     Markets are jittery about discretionary spending; ticket sales are seen as a “luxury” in a softening economy.

“In a year full of red hot IPOs, stub up was a flop, largely because they delayed the deal twice. Over the course of that time, the business got much, much worse.” (26:56)

• Investment Stance:
  StubHub could get too cheap to ignore eventually, but for now Cramer calls it “too risky to go near.” (27:41)

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5. More Lightning Round Q&A

Timestamp: 27:47–30:46

Advice on:

• Hinge Health: Great long-term potential; buy more on dips if you believe in the company. (28:16)
• Voyager Technologies: Too speculative, losing too much money, not recommended until financials improve. (29:19)

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6. Interview – Yum Brands Leadership Transition

Timestamp: 30:46–39:07

Guests:

• David Gibbs (Outgoing CEO, Yum Brands)
• Chris Turner (Incoming CEO, Yum Brands)

Key Topics:

• Leadership Succession:
  David Gibbs steps down after 36 years, citing achievement of goals and readiness of next-generation leadership.
• Growth Focus:
  Chris Turner commits to continued growth, highlighting three priorities:
  1. Staying relevant to the next generation of consumers
  2. Supporting franchisee unit economics globally
  3. Scaling Yum’s proprietary tech/digital platform (“Byte”)

“There’ll be three areas where I’ll be spending incremental energy. First is around the consumer… Second is our franchisees… Third is our digital and technology story.” – Chris Turner (32:47)

• Taco Bell as Digital/Social Standout:
  Discussion on leveraging Taco Bell’s marketing and digital innovation across all brands.

• Pizza Hut’s Struggles:
  Efforts underway to restore category growth; not satisfied with recent performance.

• AI and Technology:
  Yum’s use of voice AI at Taco Bell drive-thrus reduces turnover and improves efficiency.

  “It worked incredibly well and it made that job so much easier. And that’s why in restaurants where we have voice AI deployed, we see lower turnover…” – Chris Turner (36:17)

• Expansion Potential:
  Turner sees runway to reach up to 150,000 global franchises from today’s 61,000.

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7. Final Lightning Round

Timestamp: 39:24–43:16

Sample tickers and Cramer's take:

• American Superconductor (AMSC): Interesting speculative AI energy play. (40:03)
• Brinker International (EAT): Time to buy after commodity and gas prices come down. (40:36)
• US Antimony (UAMY): Speculative, but makes money—Cramer approves as a ‘spec’. (41:31)
• Amphenol (APH): Expensive but worth it—Cramer likes this “rocket ship.” (42:11)
• QXO: Strong leadership under Brad Jacobs; positive on the stock. (43:02)

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8. Market Leadership & The Bank Stock Resurgence

Timestamp: 44:16–47:47

• Banks as Market Leaders:
  Cramer champions banks in the current environment, with big gains in JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of New York.
• Catalysts:
  Pickup in IPOs and M&A deals (highlighted by the $55B take-private deal for Electronic Arts by Silver Lake and the Saudi PIF) are driving banking sector growth and earnings.
• Valuations:
  Major banks remain cheap on a price/earnings basis amid stronger earnings outlooks and renewed merger appetite, especially under a Trump administration more friendly to bank M&A.
• Practical Investment Advice:
  Cramer believes bank stocks are only at the beginning of their run.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Cramer on AI Skepticism:
  “Oddly, I don’t want [the dot com bomb scenario] to be taken off the table. See, the skepticism keeps things in check.” (08:25)

• On Tech Investing Risks vs. 2000:
  “Worst case scenario, if Google and Amazon and Meta make bad investments and take big losses, that's just another day at the office.” (08:49)

• StubHub’s CEO on FTC Price Rules:
  “...these rules could cause a one-time hit to revenue, about 10% and in fact said revenue could be down for the year. That’s not what you want to hear from a company just get public.” (24:53)

• Chris Turner (Yum Brands, on priorities):
  “...I want to make sure our teams are battling to be as relevant to the next generation of consumers as we are with our core.” (32:53)

• Cramer on Bank Stocks:
  “A market led by the banks is a market I want to buy, not sell.” (44:16) “What makes me think there’s still room to run? Because the big banks are still cheap on earnings.” (46:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• AI Data Center Buildout & Dot Com Bubble Debate: 01:54–09:05
• Lightning Round – Viewer Calls: 09:05–12:22
• Government Shutdown Analysis: 14:39–20:15
• StubHub IPO Deep Dive: 21:24–27:47
• Lightning Round Continued: 27:47–30:46
• Yum Brands Leadership Interview: 30:46–39:07
• Final Lightning Round: 39:24–43:16
• Banks as Market Leaders / M&A Surge: 44:16–47:47

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Summary: Main Takeaways for Investors

• Today’s tech investments in AI differ fundamentally from the 2000 dot com buildup; skepticism is healthy and protective.
• Government shutdowns, though headline-grabbing, have not historically been damaging for investors; main risk is delayed data for the Fed.
• StubHub’s IPO fizzled due to deteriorating fundamentals and regulatory risk; not a bargain yet.
• Yum Brands is set for what it describes as a smooth, growth-focused leadership transition with a heavy tech/digital emphasis.
• Bank stocks are emerging as market leaders, supported by a resurgence in deals and very reasonable valuations.

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The essential message from Cramer:
Stay wary of the hype, but don’t be scared by fears of repeats of the past. Know what is different, stay focused on fundamentals, and remember to do your homework. In this market, banks get the MVP award—at least for now.

Transcript

[Fidelity Representative]

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[Jim Cramer]

Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to MAV Money. Welcome to Craig America. Friends, I'm just trying to make you a little bit of money. My job is not just to entertain, but to educate, to teach. So call me at 1-800-743-CNBC tweet me at Jim Cramer. If you listen to the conventional wisdom, the hyperscalers, whatever that means, already have spent too much money on data centers and are now in the if you build it, they will come mode, which tends to be a bad business strategy. Most people seem to assume that these incredibly large investments are just lighting money on fire. Fire. We're told history will repeat itself. 2000 Beckett, the year of investing dangerously, and the NASDAQ will implode just like it did at the end of the dot com era. Some days are more like this one though, where The Dow advances 69 points, S&P climbs point to 6%, Nasdaq gains point 4%. But many other days are spent bemoaning all the money being wasted by Amazon, Mecca, Microsoft, Tesla and Alphabet. They're Mystified by where the privately held open I will find the $30 billion a year that it now owes Oracle. They think they were in the borrowed money phase of the bubble. Exactly what happened 2000 and that's the end of the line. It is all downhill from here. All this contempt for the AI data center build out the pessimistic the just you weighted this is extraordinary given the firepower and brainstorm the companies that are leading it the these are some of the smartest people in the world but it's hard to make an argument that they have the smarts to pull off this AI revolution because lots of investors can't even stand to hear about these companies anymore especially in video which has made this all possible. What's the rebuttal from? I think it's so each hyperscaler is developing a reputation for something different. Microsoft's working with OpenAI is offering help for the enterprise AI and doing so in a way that only Microsoft can do. Getting into corporate pieces by default Outlet managed to keep you on the Google Gemini platform like I never thought possible with no cannibalization of search because they just stick the search results and the results of the same page. Matt is working on the most complicated delivery form for AI glasses and I think it can work also work you in humanoid robots, Tesla self driving in robots. Amazon's tougher I think their cloud infrastructure business is one way, Alexa is another and Prime's a third third of what's becoming I think an underrated AI story. And Apple, well, Apple should be the stock that goes up the most because it has 1.5 billion users who want a chat bot built in. Maybe Apple can build one of their own but any one of these other companies, especially some of the ones that are less relevant, would be willing to pay them a fortune to be installed as the default chat bot. If it's also clear to me, why are all these bearish experts out there pushing the idea that we're simply repeating the mistakes of the dot com era? Well, because it's. That's a devastating criticism. You're talking about a wholesale collapse of the biggest benefits of companies in the universe. If you think a bunch of tech stocks are trading at insane levels, well then you invoke the dot com implosion. You come on air and you just do it. Even if I think it's the wrong analogy and I know it's the wrong analogy because you see I lived it as a pioneer with TheStreet.com and and a hedge fund manager. The Storylines are totally different from now. First, there were not one, but two collapses at the end of the dot com year. First was the infrastructure implosion, the second was the content destruction. The infrastructure back then was made fiber. The companies who built the infrastructure bought. They bought way too much, all financed with debt and they ultimately took down every supplier they dealt with. By the end, the suppliers were fronting them money and very few of them got it back. They called it vendor financing and it was terrible, but it's different. I thought the infrastructure buildup was pristine until very recently when Oracle said it was going to build data centers with big money from open air, even though we have no idea where that money is really going to come from. Most of these data centers are being built by out of cash flow though by the richest companies on earth. So the analogy just doesn't hold up under close scrutiny. But now with the massive Oracle build, there's an element of 2000 I wish it weren't happening. If OpenAI were to come public and raise billions of dollars, had a clean balance sheet, maybe I wouldn't be concerned. But I am. Of course there's also the issue of core weave which willingly uses debt to build out its end of the datacenter business. I understand why you might worry about that, but I trust CEO Michael Intrader when he talks about how this is not a risky business because it's just so much demand, tons and tons of it. And he's got great analysis of what's going to happen in the 5, 6, 7 year period after they build these things. How about the second wave of the dot com collapse though? When all the web based content plays went under the equivalent of 300 plus companies disappeared very quickly. Back then people forget that these companies were backed by the public as part of the Internet revolution. The venture capitalists would create them with some entrepreneurs, then bring them to the public and then the public went nuts for them because they just learned how to be on a PC. These sites were largely the Internet. Think about dial up. These sites were largely worthless and the money only lasted for so long. People lost fortunes. Funds on the wrong side lost fortunes. And then the world went on with Amazon, Yahoo, the non public, Google and, and the. They were the. Well they were at the vanguard. They survived. Now if you want more about this particular era, actually it's all in how to make money at any market. I am signing books tomorrow at the Barnes and Noble at 555 Fifth Avenue at noon. Geez, I'd love to see you there. Come down and Say hello. It'll be fun this time. The content creators are Metta, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, OpenAI plus a couple of others that may or may not make it. I don't know. Unlike 2000. Well, hey, they're not the types of companies that will roll over and go under in a few months time, right? For the most part, these are obscenely rich businesses that can pivot and write off a huge amount if they have to. Although I don't think they're going to have to. My expectation is we'll continue to be surprised by the new things that these companies have accomplished. Like today when OpenAI announced this amazing deal with Etsy and Shopify to enable direct purchases in chat cbt. That's a huge use case and it jolted those two stocks in the stratosphere. That's the kind of thing that can happen over and over again is the underlying AI technology just gets better and better. The linchpin is of course in video Right now these AI platforms replacing code writers, they're taking the place of some jobs and like Wal Mart announced move this weekend, moving people to other roles while holding the total number of employees steady. But there has to be more, much more to justify all the money that's being spent on these chat bots. The Chat GPT at the Shop Shopify Top 5 partnership needs to be one of hundreds to make the whole build out worthwhile. But there could be hundreds. So should we take the dot com bomb scenario off the table? Oddly, I don't want it to be taken off the table. See, the skepticism keeps things in check. If there weren't such a negative bench to the story right now, everyone would be in this pool and we'd all drown. Here's the bottom line. Speakers an Internet pioneer. What I see now is the polar opposite of what we were seeing 25 years ago. When the dot coms made bad investments, nearly all of them went under. But worst case scenario, if Google and Amazon and Meta make bad investments and take big losses, that's just another day at the office. Let's go to Rambod in California.

[Caller]

Rambod Hi Jim, thank you for taking my call. My pleasure. Every chance I get and really value your insights. Jewelers Due to high market valuation, I took a short position in the stock a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, the trade hasn't gone my way and I wanted to know if I should cut my losses and cover now or should I wait until.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay. I typically don't advise short sellers on this show. I favor the long side. I admit that because our viewers favor the long side. But Signet just, you know, 10 times earnings with a terrific guy, Jim Semantics, who is doing a terrific job. The numbers are good. So I think you need a better. I think you need a better case to stay short. This one. I don't have one. Let's go to Eric in Michigan. Eric.

[Caller]

Jim, I love the show.

[Jim Cramer]

Thank you, Eric.

[Caller]

Jim, I took your advice earlier this year, and I pulled my cost basis out of Palantir. So my question for you is this. Should I sell this thing around 200 or should I let it ride for a couple of years and maybe it hits a trillion dollar market cap?

[Jim Cramer]

I don't know. A trillion dollar market cap. Here's what I know. You took out your cost basis. You cannot lose money. Now, I think that is an incredible position. And what I like to do when I can't lose money is I like to let her run unless the fundamentals change. And right now, the fundamentals seem very strong at Palantir. Let's go to Danny in my home state of New Jersey. Danny.

[Caller]

Booyah. Mr. Jim Cramer. How are you?

[Jim Cramer]

I am good, Danny. How are you?

[Caller]

Doing great. Thank you for taking the call. Much respect. Calling from the Belmar area, Jersey shore. I know you're familiar.

[Jim Cramer]

Oh, man. La dolce vita. Best. That's Italian food in the world. Best. Next. Great.

[Caller]

What's up About a domestic play? They have a lot of debt, fair value, 50% higher than where they are now. And I'm calling about the recent involvement of an activist trying to set the company up for a REIT sale leaseback. I'm calling about Six Flags ticker fu.

[Jim Cramer]

N. I don't think Six Flags has the horses. I really don't. I mean, Look, I did 10, 53% for the year as it is. I struggle with my charitable trust. We own Disney. And everyone tells me that that's a big mistake with the consumer. Consumer not doing well. But that one that you've mentioned, Six Flags, it's just I've seen it happen before. I'm not going to get involved with a situation that ended badly once before. I think you own Disney and you just say, you know what? 19 times earnings to own Disney. That's what I want. All right? What I'm seeing now is the polar opposite of the setup 25 years ago. So stop listening to the sirens. When the dot coms made bad investments, they all went bust. But when big tech takes big losses now, they simply learn and they move on. Tonight, could a potential government shutdown cause some pain for your portfolio. I'm reviewing previous shutdowns to see what the impact might be for you then. Stubborn's had a rocky start since its public debut. Has it? I'll break down what's behind the weakness and what could be ahead for the company. Yum Brands announced a C suite shake up this summer, and tonight we get to meet both the outgoing CEO and the new person, the designate to see how the quick service giant plans to maintain its market. I'll see you at Barnes and Noble tomorrow at noon. 555 Fifth Avenue. Let's have some fun and stay with Kramer.

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[Jim Cramer]

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[Jim Cramer]

How worried should we be about a potential government shutdown once we blow through the deadline? Tomorrow at midnight, Democrats in the Senate, they're filibustering the Republican budget bill. They want to extend the health insurance subsidies in the Affordable Care act, reverse some of the president's recent Medicaid cuts. So far, it sounds like that both sides are pretty intransigent. And if you look at the predictions market, they're currently assigning a roughly 75% odds of a shutdown by Wednesday. It's always unnerving when we see these headlines out of Washington, isn't it? But how much will any of this truly impact your portfolio? If history is any guide, not that much. Just because the story makes you feel bad about the government or the country as a whole, that doesn't mean it matters to the stock market. On Friday morning, analysts at bank of America published a review of the last six government shutdowns dating back to 1990. And what they found is that four out of six times stocks actually went up from one week before the shutdown one week after. The SB 500 hasn't really been hurt by this stuff since the Clinton administration. Of course, there's a difference between a partial shutdown and a full shutdown. Right now, not a single appropriation bill has been signed into law. So if we go over the deadline, we'll effectively have the first full shutdown since 2013. But in two of the last three full shutdown, stocks have gained crowd with an average gain of 1% for the week before to the week after. What else can history tell us? Usually during a government shutdown, the dollar gets hit versus foreign currencies, although not very hard. I'm not going to complain about a weaker greenback. It helps our earnings per share when companies do the currency translation. On top of that, past shutdowns haven't done much to treasury yields. Now I want to distinguish between the government shutdown which we're facing now, and the semi regular debt ceiling fights. When our leaders play chicken with the debt ceiling, that freaks out the markets because it jeopardizes interest payments on U.S. treasuries. We can't have that, but we just raised the debt ceiling by 5 billion this past summer as part of that one big beautiful bill act. So even if we get a shutdown, we can keep printing money to our bondholders. We're very good at that. The one area where a government shutdown really could hurt is employee Furloughs for people who work for the federal government here could be not so hot for them. Analysts at bank of America and Deutsche bank of estimate that an extended shutdown could result in furloughs roughly 800,000 federal employees. Goldman Sachs could be as high as 900,000. Either way, that's a lot of people won't be getting paid for the duration. And people who don't get paid well, let's just say they can't buy things. How much damage could these furloughs do? Bank of America says each week of a shutdown could knock 10 basis points off our GDP growth in the fourth quarter. Goldman says it's 15 basis point. Deutsche bank says it's 20 basis point. In other words, a week is fine, but once we're talking three or four weeks that represents a serious hit to the broader economy. That said, all the analysts seem to agree that once the shutdown ends our GDP growth should snap right back. Unless the government closes up shop for a long time. It's not that disruptive. And unlike the last time this happened in 2013 we don't have a debt ceiling crisis so the bond market's safe. All that said, there's one thing I'm at least a little concerned about. The potential interruption of economic data from the government when the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics were both are both forced to go on vacation and they will be that delays of major data points we'll have much less insight into the inflation or the labor market market. You know how important those numbers are if you look at what happened 2013 when the shutdown occurred at the exact same point in the calendar. Some key pieces of data got delayed by anywhere from one to three weeks which is what you'd expect from a 16 day shutdown that month. September 2013 jobs report was delayed by about two and a half weeks and the September CPI report was delayed by about two weeks. The October reports for those data points were also delayed that year, but by less than a week. In the grand scheme of things, these delays aren't a huge deal right now. We're in a critical situation with the Federal Reserve needs this data in order to be able to decide whether to keep cutting interest rates. With the next open Market committee meeting in a month, Wall street overwhelmingly expects another quarter point cut. I do too. But I worry about what might happen if Jay Powell doesn't get the data he needs to make an informed decision. He can't wing it. Maybe the Fed becomes more hesitant if they feel they're flying blind when jobs and inflation. I get that. Then again, given that a government shutdowns bad for the economy, that might make it actually easier for the Fed to justify rate cuts. I think that that's a reasonable, reasonable proposition. Long story short, it looks like we're headed for a government shutdown tomorrow. Okay, tomorrow night, midnight. But while that's definitely not great news for America, history says it's not that impactful for your stock portfolio. Like I mentioned earlier, over the past half dozen government shutdowns, there's been no clear trend for what happens for stocks. On average, they actually gain ground. Please remember that when the people come on and scare you, they don't know what they're talking about. It does seem like to be a negative impact to GDP from a government shutdown, and perhaps a meaningful one if the shutdown drags on for more, more than a week or two. But the good news here is that those negative impacts tend to reverse in future quarters, assuming the furloughing of federal employees doesn't turn into permanent firings. By the way, that's something the Trump administration has threatened to do. But here's the bottom line. I'm not worried about most of this stuff. My biggest fear is that a shutdown will delay important pieces of economic data, making life more difficult for the Federal Reserve and potentially postponing their plans to cut interest rates. I still think that's a long shot. Honestly, though, if the biggest fear from a government shutdown is delayed data collection, well, that's not a reason to be concerned when it comes to government shutdowns. My message is simple. Keep calm and carry on because the stock market tends to do just fine in these situations. May have money's back in for the break.

[Show Announcer]

Coming up, shares of this recent IPO keep hitting lower and lower notes. So what gives? Kramer's giving you a front row seat to his analysis of StubHub next.

[Jim Cramer]

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[Jim Cramer]

So far, this has been the strongest year for IPO since 2021. If anything, it's been too strong with insane levels of enthusiasm for some newly minute stocks like Circle. Wow, you see that? Circle Internet Group and Figma, which roared out of the gate before pulling back hard from their highs. Tonight though, I want to talk about an IPO that hasn't gone well. Let's talk about StubHub, the world's largest secondary ticketing marketplace that came public nearly two weeks ago. This deal, priced at $23.50, right in the middle of this proposed range and opened at 25. So far, so good, right? And shot up to almost 28, but then reversed, finishing its first day at $22. Now it's down more than 6% from the offer price and sub ups it kept going lower ever since. This is now $17. Stop. In terms of race market capitalization, this was the worst starting week for a sizable IPO since 2007. So what the heck went wrong with Stop Up? Is there something wrong with the company? Or does this simply represent the market's new attitude toward consumer facing IPOs? Okay, let's start with the state of the business. When Stubborn calls itself the world's largest secondary ticketing marketplace, what that means is this is the kinder, gentler way to buy scalp tickets. The company says that as it has grown over the past two and a half decades, it has created and scaled the core capabilities required to successful be successful in this market, including technology, distribution, data and strong brand. So far, so good, right? The old StubHub was acquired by eBay in 2007 for just under 310 million. Then over the course of the next decade, the company's original founder launched a new service called Vogogo, aimed at secondary ticket sales overseas. In 2020, Video Go Go bought StubHub from eBay for more than $4 billion, which created the company we have today. It's run by founder and CEO Eric Baker. It took a couple of years to fully merge both sides of the business. But since 2022, StubHub's financials have improved substantially. These guys have put up some incredible growth over the years. And even though it's not not yet profitable on a GAAP basis, its free cash flow is positive. But if the numbers are basically fine, what the heck went wrong with this deal? Okay, first off, Stop delayed its IPO twice. Company was originally slated to go public back in July 2020. 4 but pulled the deal because of market volatility. Then they were planning to debut in April, but that's when we had the post Liberation day market meltdown. In retrospect, they should have come public a year ago, but that's hindsight is 20 high 20 20. But in the interim though, this is what matters. The fundamentals have deteriorated and I'd say they deteriorated somewhat dramatically. The deterioration of Stop Hub numbers actually started in 2024. While still that stellar 27% gross merchandise sales growth and about 30% revenue growth, its earnings for interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization took a 16% hit, as did its free cash flow. Worse, when Stubborn updated its prospectus in August, the company included results from the first six months of 2025. And those numbers not encouraging. While gross merchandise sales and revenue were still up year over year, in the first half, the company growth had slowed significantly, with gross merchandise sales up 11% and revenue growing only 3%. At the same time, Stop profitability and cash flow numbers continue to come down. Their free cash flow actually plunged 50%, 59% year over year in the first half. You don't typically see this kind of thing from a company is going public. Most aspiring publicly traded companies try to time their IPO so that it happens during or after a really strong period for the business. They want investors to extrapolate from their best numbers, not the worst ones. But because it had to delay its IPO a couple of times, stub up didn't have that luxury. And look, I don't blame any investors for getting freaked out. People have taken a wait and see approach to this one because that's what you do when the numbers start getting ugly. On top of the financial StubHub seems to be running into some regulatory headwinds. In May, the FTC rolled out new guidelines on price transparency which say that businesses selling tickets to live events most prominently show the total must prominently show the total cost of these tickets upfront. No slamming you with hidden fees at checkout. We like that, right? Plus on StubHub 6, second day as a publicly traded company, the FTC sued Ticketmaster for a quote, engaging in illegal ticket resale tactics and deceiving artists and consumers about price and ticket limits and quote, clearly the regulators are serious about this stuff. Now when we interviewed CEO Eric Baker, that was along with David Faber the morning of the IPO, he acknowledged that these rules could cause a one time hit to revenue about 10% and in fact said revenue could be down for the year. That's not what you want to hear from a company, just get public. Now, in fairness. Look, Paper was pretty optimistic about the new rules. He thinks they're better for the consumer. And StubHub can cope. But that talk of a 10% hit, will that really frighten people? Justifiably. There are some other aspects I could quibble over. For example, the company's using its 735 million in net proceeds from the deal to pay down debt that it took on to acquire the original Stub up from eBay five years ago. In a perfect world, you want those proceeds invested in growth, right? But I can't really complain about a company cleaning up its balance sheet. Great use of capital, always. Finally, though, I think the Stub up deal fizzled because Wall Street's gotten squeamish about the entire consumer discretionary sector. And who can blame them? People are worried about the consumer. Especially now the labor market looks quite a bit worse than it did six months ago. Concert tickets and sporting events are a luxury, not a necessity. By the way, they've gone up a lot. So stub up could suffer if consumers decide to do some belt tightening. Even though this stuff does get cheaper as it goes lower, I don't want to stick my neck out of this. One last those deteriorating numbers and the warning of a 10% revenue hit from the new FTC rules. I think the situation actually even could get worse before it starts getting better. And believe me, I wanted to be optimistic because I love deals that have come down in price where the fundamentals are improved. That's not the case here. Let me give you the bottom line. In a year full of red hot IPOs, stub up was a flop, largely because they delayed the deal twice. Over the course of that time, the business got much, much worse. Meanwhile, it's just a tougher market for certain parts of the consumer discretionary sector anyway these days. Hence the lack of appetite for this one. Eventually, I'm betting stubborn will get too cheap, too cheap to ignore. But until we see some clear signs of a bottom, I'm saying that this stock is too risky to go near. Wow. Okay, let's go to Reza in California. Reza.

[Caller]

Booyah, Jimmy Chill. First new new club member. And thank you for helping me build my wealth. I'm calling about Hinge Health Incorporated. I have a very large position and up until last week I was making a lot of money. It was almost at the 52 week high and now I've given it all back. Am I staying in here? Am I buying more?

[Jim Cramer]

Let's. Let's do some housekeeping. First, thank you very much. It's been a very tough day. I play with my heart on my sleeve. I'm really glad to hear that you are doing well with us. Second, you do not have a profit until you take something off the table. You did not have a profit. You had an unrealized profit. Third, you're lucky. I think this company is really terrific and if anything, if it came down a little more, I would buy more. That's how good. And again, I thank you for coming to me at a great time. Well, bad time. Great time. Jacob in Alaska. Jacob.

[Caller]

Hey Jim, thanks for taking my call.

[Jim Cramer]

Of course. What's going on?

[Caller]

A few weeks ago I called in to ask your take on Voyager Technologies shortly after its IPO. And since then the stock has kept sliding down 6% over the past month. And with Voyager just announcing that they're moving forward on Star Lab, awarding the contract to build the station structure, I wanted to ask you, do you still see Voyager as a viable option at these levels? And what milestones would you want to see before feeling confident about?

[Jim Cramer]

Okay, it's a great question. Now, if you remember, about a week ago I decided, okay, enough of the speculation. I'm not buying. I'm not going to do them unless they're making some money. We had a really good run on these specs, but I am not going to hurt people. And this company is losing too much money for me to recommend I'm going to let others buy it. We're not going to. And thank you for your kind words. At some point, stuff up is going to get too cheap, but I don't think we're at that point yet. And I'd steer clear of this one until it happens. Now, much more mad money ahead, including my sit down with the top brass at Young Brands. The parent company of chains like Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC will have a new CEO at time the same start of October. And I'm learning more about the company's roadmap for the years ahead. Steady Eddie it is. Then I'll break down why I think today's announcement of taking EA private represents yet another catalyst for the big banks and of course, all your calls Rapid Fire. Tonight's edition of the Lightning round. So stay with in two days to be a changing of the guard at Yum Brands as the parent company of kfc, Taco Bell and Pizza CEO David Gibbs will be stepping down after nearly six years in the top job and also be at the company a long time with Chris Turner, the current CFO and chief franchise officer taking the helm. So what can we expect from this new year from Yum Brands? Let's go straight to the source of David Gibbs, current CEO of Yum Brands and CEO designate Chris Turner. Gentleman. Welcome everybody.

[David Gibbs]

Great to be on with you, Jim.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay, so I got to get David Young guy done really well, some great numbers. Why do you want to step down and why do we want Chris to be the steward here?

[David Gibbs]

Well, all great things obviously come to an end. It's been 36 years at Yum. I've enjoyed every moment of it. Last six, as you said as CEO, it's been the joy of my life.

[Jim Cramer]

But when I including Covid, what you got, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Very fair, very good attitude.

[David Gibbs]

Way that we got through Covid, honestly. But you know, I started in the job six years ago with a set of things that I want to accomplish as CEO. I feel like that chapter of our growth is now coming to a close and we've mostly accomplished all those things. You know, you've seen our digital business go from a laggard to really a leader in the space. In digital, you know, the brands have never been stronger in terms of connecting with consumers. You know, the business is really on its front foot right now. The culture and talent, every level of the organization, including, you know, people ready to come in and take that role from me. I'm happy to be passing the baton to Chris. I know he's going to take this next chapter of growth and accelerate what we're doing at Yum and make it an even stronger, better.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, you like to go out on top. That's absolutely right. Now, Chris, there are some tough numbers here. I'm looking at the long term growth algorithms, ok, which are quite a bit above what you're currently doing. How are you going to accomplish this?

[Chris Turner]

Well, look, Yum has an amazing global business. Our four iconic brands are wired for growth and that is our focus every day with our franchise partners driving profitable growth. That long term growth algorithm, of course the key number is that 8% core operating profit growth. We delivered that last year.

[Jim Cramer]

Right.

[Chris Turner]

That said on our last call, we believe we're on track to deliver it again this year and our teams are working every day to figure out how do we continue to unlock big growth in the future.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay, so what will be something that you do want to change that is different from the way David did it? And I'm not talking something heretical, but what you think needs to be beefed up or maybe go a different direction.

[Chris Turner]

Well, yeah, and of course what's not going to change is that growth focus. But there'll be three areas where I'll be spending incremental energy.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay.

[Chris Turner]

The first is around the consumer. You know, we are a consumer first business and we do a great job serving our core, core consumer today. But I want to make sure our teams are battling to be as relevant to the next generation of consumers as we are with our core. Second is our franchisees. You know, we are a franchise business and the lifeblood of building new units around the globe is strong franchisee store level economics. We can do an even better job leveraging our global scale to drive that. And then third is our digital and technology story we announced earlier this year, Byte, which is, is our integrated suite of technology solutions. I want to make sure that we're taking that to more restaurants to give more benefit to our consumers and our franchise partners and team members. Those are three areas where I'll be spending a lot of energy.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay. So David, want to ask you about Taco Bell and you've got a great throwback promotion. We had Taco Bell for lunch. You can't beat that. But you also use a tremendous kind of great social media marketing. Maybe the best social media of any consumer repackaged good company. I know. Can you get that to be more for the other guys tours that just happens to be that young fellow you have who's so good at social media.

[David Gibbs]

Well, obviously we aspire for all of our brands to have the same kind of presence that Taco Bell has in many parts of the world. We do. You know, to be clear, the Taco Bell brand is a really special brand. We call it a category of one brand because nobody else is serving chalupas, gorditas or any of these great products that you see out here. And the team does a great job job of making sure the world knows about that. You know, a lot of times when we go into a new country when you think they don't know the brand at all, they know it really well because of all the social media that we.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, they do a great job. Now, Chris, I was looking at, I was looking at some of the numbers for Pizza Hut. It's been a while since they've been able to put together a good streak and you've had some negative comp numbers. Is there something fundamentally awry there? I remember when I used to talk to Darden, they said, you, you know what, Red Lobster, maybe it's not working. It does better on Its own. Is there some or is the category tough? Because I know that we don't want down numbers. That's just none of us tolerate that, you know.

[Chris Turner]

The pizza business over the years has played an important role in our portfolio. It brings us scale and it has brought us many of the digital innovations and capabilities and talent that have fueled our journey with Bite by Yum. Because the category, the pizza category, went digital before many other categories. So it has played an important role. Of course, right now we're not satisfied with the current performance in that business. Our teams are working hard on how do we bring even more value to the category. You've seen us bring more individual sized items at lower price points. So we're not satisfied. The team is working hard to change the trajectory.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay. And also I know you know, tech. There was an article that I read where your Taco Bell chief Digital and Technology officer Dane Matthews was talking, talking about that the Nvidia relationship, that it's not as clear cut as say I thought, I thought that, wow, you get this in and AI is perfect. But he did mention that there's a contingent intent on trolling the system with orders like 18,000 cups of water, please. How do we stop that? Because it's such a good idea. But that's not acceptable.

[Chris Turner]

Well, you know, I worked in a Taco Bell restaurant just a few Saturdays ago and I worked each of the positions. I worked at the window, which is a, which is a really important job. That's the face of where we're interacting with the consumer at the drive thru. Our team members who are there do an incredible job and they've got a lot on their plate bringing accurate orders out the window. That was a restaurant where we had voice AI installed. So I wore the headset and I listened into a couple of hours of the conversations. In two hours, there was only one conversation where I needed to intervene.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay.

[Chris Turner]

It worked incredibly well and it made that job so much easier. And that's why in restaurants where we have voice AI deployed, we see lower turnover because it's making those jobs easier to do.

[Jim Cramer]

Okay. So we shouldn't give up on it just because of 18,000 cops. That's a kind of an outlier. It's an outlier.

[Chris Turner]

It's an outlier.

[Jim Cramer]

All right. So David, one of the, your great accomplishers, I think it's tough to bring a disparate group of franchisees all come together on digital sales. That's not what they got into to start. How were you able to convince people so you had that kind of level of appreciation of it.

[David Gibbs]

I think the proof is in the pudding. With our digital sales growth nearly quadrupling since I took the helm of the company, the franchisees are seeing that's, that's growing their top line and in many ways it's doing it while cutting their costs. When somebody orders at a kiosk or orders online, that's one less person that has to take the order. So it's a win win. Consumers love it, of course, because it gives them control of the ordering process. They get to pick things without the pressure of somebody waiting on line behind them. So it's just a win win across the board. And it's pretty easy actually to get our franchisees on board the digital bus. You're seeing them adopt our technology all around the world.

[Jim Cramer]

I'm glad that that is coming because I want east when I go. I like it now. Okay, so let's talk about numbers here, Chris. KFC, a huge number of stores. Pizza 32,000, 20,000. Taco Bell 9,000. Are there really? Is there any more room for KFCs? For a pizza Huts? I know there's room for more Taco Bells.

[Chris Turner]

You know, Jim, we've got more growth ahead of us than we have behind us. We shared a couple of years ago that when we look top down at the business, we think there can be 150,000 restaurants around the globe. We're at 61,000 now, so that's a lot of Runway left to grow. KFC International, as you know, is our development leader. We open a new KFC International every three hours somewhere around the globe. And of course Taco Bell. When I joined in 2018, we had about 480 Taco Bell International units. We're now at 1100. That's explosive growth. But we've got thousands and thousands more Taco Bell International units to build.

[Jim Cramer]

All right, so David, put you the spot. Give him some advice right now that he doesn't know right here, right now that he's got to do.

[David Gibbs]

I couldn't give Chris any advice that he doesn't know because he's been by my side for six years. We've been working together in the trenches. That's the beauty of this transition, Jim. We have so much talented yum that we can take people like Chris, bring them in six years ago. Given the experiences that he's had, have him develop the relationship throughout the organization, become an expert on our business, he is so perfectly positioned to take this business to higher levels. You can't imagine.

[Jim Cramer]

Great way to leave it. I want to thank you guys. Okay. I'm going to miss you, David. David. Okay, I'll see you maybe some guys and maybe at the Eagles game. I don't know where. I'll see you. Giant. Who knows? And to Chris Turner designate, congratulations to you for all the hard work that you've put in.

[Chris Turner]

Thank you so much.

[Jim Cramer]

May I be back in?

[Show Announcer]

Coming up, Kramer takes your calls. And the sky's the limit. It's a fast fire lightning round. Next.

[Jim Cramer]

It is time.

[Show Announcer]

Hi.

[Jim Cramer]

It's time for the white railcar. That's right. Rock car, boss. The same in the stocks. Standard bye bye sells us all just beer. Another course, stock questions at my stamp and personal graphics on the fly. You plan to sell and then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Ski day. Time for the lightning round. Crazy. Let's start with Mike in Tennessee. Mike with a mike.

[Caller]

Booyah, Jim.

[Jim Cramer]

Booyah, Mike.

[Caller]

So on my watch list, I've got a stock that's involved in AI in the energy space. I know the field's getting a little bit crowded, but I want to know if this is a winner. American superconductor.

[Jim Cramer]

I would say this stock has had a big move, but it's still only $2.7 billion. That's a very interesting spec and I thank you for bringing it to our attention. Let's go to Chris in Massachusetts. Chris?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah, from Boston.

[Jim Cramer]

Jim. Oh, man. How you doing up there? What's going on? Good.

[Caller]

Long time listener, first time caller.

[Jim Cramer]

Oh, thank you.

[Caller]

Vesting maker in Alden. And we want to get your thoughts on a Stock that's up 74% year over year, but down 26% in the past three months. Is this a buying opportunity in Eat Brinker International?

[Jim Cramer]

Okay, so what's happened is the commodities have gone way up, right? And gasoline is trying to stabilize. But now gasoline is coming down and a lot of the key commodities are coming down too. So it is time to pull the trigger for those youngins. I would be a buyer of Brinker for them. Let's go to Ken in Missouri.

[Caller]

Ken, congratulations on your book, Jim. Tomorrow stated first and foremost. So the company I'm calling today about has been in the news about securing a sole source five year contract worth up to 245 million from the Department of Defense. And it's also the first fully integrated antimony company in the world outside of China. So I wanted to get your thoughts today on the ticker symbol uamy United States Antimony Corporation.

[Jim Cramer]

Normally I would say because of my new More cherry view about specs that I would not pull the trigger. But it's a spec that actually makes money and that's the difference. So I'm willing to bless that as a spec because it makes money. Good call by you. Jerry in New York. Jerry.

[Caller]

Yo, Jimmy C. Thanks for taking my call, brother.

[Jim Cramer]

My pleasure was shaking.

[Caller]

I want you to know that your invest not trade philosophy and individual stocks has helped me boost my retirement savings.

[Jim Cramer]

That's how to do it. The trading stock stuff is shady. Stuff is. No, no. We buy, we own, we homework. Let's go. Yes.

[Caller]

So I would love to hear your thoughts on ampenol.

[Jim Cramer]

Oh, it's a good company, man. It's just. It's just a rocket ship. I know, but it's a good company. Is it cheap? No. But some gun companies are not going to be cheap. I like that call and I like the idea that you're getting it. We are not traders. Okay? We are compounders. Let's go to Jeff in Tennessee. Jeff.

[Caller]

Booyah, Jim.

[Jim Cramer]

Booyah. What's happening?

[Caller]

I'm calling about a company that I bought back in June which happens to be one of my biggest vendors. And they're very instrumental in what's going on in data centers and what should be a housing market that should be catching fire once these interest rate cuts come. They got a PE ratio 1.99 and they made $9 a share. The company is QXO.

[Jim Cramer]

$9 a share. I didn't. Oh, I know. That's a Brad Jacobs company. I am a believer in Brad Jacobs and what he's going to do as a consolidator for roofing. And I like the roofing business. And that, ladies, have a conclusion of the Lightning Round.

[Show Announcer]

The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Coming up as M and A and the IPO market heat up. Kramer's highlighting one sector he thinks you can bank on for your portfolio next. Tomorrow, kick off the trading day with Squawk on the street live from post nine at the nyse.

[Jim Cramer]

All the areas we covered today. All right. Amazing. I think it's. Yes, it's amazing how many things we can cover. Well, that's true, but that's. That's what we do for a living. And I was listening back to the market. That matters because I have to insult you at least 10 times a show. I know. Nvidia. Jim, what are you gonna say? Go ahead, say something. Yeah, get going. Say something. Ever made in history. Thank you for that. Is up two and a half percent.

[Show Announcer]

It all starts at 9am Eastern.

[Jim Cramer]

You can tell a lot about a rally by its leadership. And a market led by the banks is a market I want to buy, not sell. Banks make money in a bunch of ways, but all of them are tied to the real economy. Mergers and acquisitions, fees for deals, investments. Right now all these markets are doing exceptionally well. The US IPO market is up more than 20% year over year. The M&A market soared 29% year over year. And I think they're both in the early innings of the resurgence. This morning EA, the old Electronic Arts got a 55 billion billion bid, the largest all cash sponsored take private deal in history. Silver Lakes, the prominent name among the buyers. But it's pif, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund that's putting up most of the money. Well, there's a buyer for you. Although I don't own EA for the Travel Trust, I'm still gratified to see Goldman Sachs, the company's advisor of this deal. J.P. morgan is advising the buyers and providing $20 billion in debt financing. These are huge tickets. Big enough to influence the quarter for JP Morgan, almost big enough to hit hit the M and A line in fine form for Goldman Sachs which is a big position for my child trust. J.P. morgan stock is up almost 32% for the year. Goldman's up over 40%. Oh, and Citi zoom more than 46% on the leadership. Perfect. Gene Fraser. Wells Fargo is up more than 20%. Bank of America's up 19% and bank of New York, a bank I highlight how to make money in any market which I will be signing tomorrow at the Barnes and Noble, 555 Fifth Ave. At noon. Well get this. This one is up a 42%. Quiet winning way. Wow. These are all spectacular and they're a reminder of what's working. When people say all the gains are clustered. Magnificent or the elite A. Give me a break. Banks are on fire. You heard those percentages. And I think it's just beginning because we're likely to see a wave of takeovers going forward. And after four years for mergers were basically put on hold on the Biden administration. The Trump White House is very keen on letting the capital markets do whatever they want. For example, the President wants companies to only report twice a year. SEC just fast tracked that idea. I bet we're going to see a fresh round of bank mergers which have been very rare since the financial crisis and were almost nonexistent in the previous administration. But most important, the banks are suddenly being valued on their growth, not their just their net interest margins. The latter represents passive revenue streams that have little to do that much more do with yield curves and deposits. Now though, banks are being valued on growth I love buying growth stocks today. Wells Fargo, quite a downgrade from Morgan Stanley amid a slew of upgrades and pushes. We own it for the Travel Trust and I think this is a real bad call. Wells under CEO Charlie Scharf hasn't even much of a chance to grow because it's spent seven years under a Fed imposed asset cap punishment for the misdeeds of the previous management team. But now the asset cap's gone and Wells is working to become a growth bank with lots of capital markets exposure and that's why we're sticking with it for the trust. What makes me think there's still room to run because the big banks are still cheap on earnings. JP Morgan, despite being at its 52 week high, sells at about 16 times earnings, Goldman's at 17 times earnings, Citi only sells for 14 times earnings and Wells Fargo does the same, just 14. These are puny price earnings multiples, especially for a group that seems slated for much better earnings going forward. I want to push these bank stocks by need to catalyst the gigantic deal gave it to me. These leveraged buyers are never alone, even as the acquirers paid a pretty darn penny for it. The scarcity value is palpable, so maybe that's okay. For me though what matters are the fees. They represent a stream that's a trickle going to a river as the M and A market comes roaring back and you definitely want to own a piece of it. As always, more markets somewhere, I promise I'd find just for you right here on Mad Money. I'm Jim Kramer. I will see you tomorrow.

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All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBCUniversal or their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by Kramer on television, radio, Internet or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Jim Cramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Kramer's opinions are based upon information he considers reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Mad Money disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com madmoneydisclaimer@ Capella University. Learning the right skills could make a difference. That's why our business programs teach you relevant skills you can take from the courseroom to the workplace. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn [e-mail].