Leon Cooperman and NJPAC CEO John Schreiber Talk $50 NJPAC DOnation
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What is the significance of Leon Cooperman's $50 million donation?
Hello and welcome. This is The Michelle Hussein Show. I'm Michelle Hussein. I speak with people like Elon Musk. I think I've done enough. And Shonda Rhimes. That's so cute. This will be a place where every weekend you can count on one essential conversation to help make sense of the world. So please join me, listen and subscribe to The Michelle Hussein Show from Bloomberg Weekend, wherever you get your podcasts. You certainly ask interesting questions. Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News.
Well, our next guest needs really no introduction. He's familiar to the Bloomberg audience. Leon Cooperman spent 25 years at Goldman Sachs. He was a partner and chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He then went on to create the hedge fund Omega Advisors in the Omega family office, where he now oversees more than $10 billion in assets.
He's also known for his philanthropy, signing on to the Giving Pledge more than a decade ago and having donated many millions to various causes, including Columbia Business School, St. Barnabas Medical Center, and most recently, $50 million to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, something we want to talk with him about. And yes, a lot more. With us is Leon Cooperman. He is chair and CEO of of the Omega Family Office. He joins us along with John Schreiber, President and CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, both joining us from Newark. And gentlemen, great to have you here with us. Thank you.
Nice to be with you. Let me correct one thing you said. I managed $10 billion when I was in business. I retired in 2018. Unfortunately, we have less than $10 billion. What we have is my own money and my son and my wife's. Less than $10 billion by a lot.
We appreciate that because we like to get it right here. So thank you. Thank you for that. And thank you again, both of you for joining us. We want to talk about this gift, but got to say, Leon Lee, that we would certainly get a lot of flack from our Bloomberg users if we didn't ask you about the market environment as well. So we just want to take a few moments just to ask you about that. You know, We have seen records on Wall Street again this week. There are concerns about overvaluation. I'm just curious, do you feel comfortable with where the market is and do you expect it to continue to move up higher, especially when it comes to U.S. stocks?
I'm not comfortable. I think I'm less optimistic than the consensus. I'm bothered by the excessive valuation relative to history. We're in the 98th percentile valuation. And certainly relative to the obvious macro issues which the market for some reason is ignoring. I'm bothered by the excessive reliance on debt. We have a guns and butter economic policy. which will ultimately lead to crowding out. And all these data centers are being announced, and someone has to finance them to manage demand for credit. I think the surprise will be when they cut short rates, long rates are going to move up. The stock market is very expensive relative to long rates, and it's going to become a problem for the stock market.
When does it become a problem?
You don't know. I would have thought lower levels, but I've been too conservative, but I've not been short anything. I'm selling stuff, becoming more liquid. But I would say that, you know, bear markets don't materialize out of immaculate conception. It tends to be a causative factor. I think something has to blow up in the, you know, all these announcements, all these deals, with the centers, data centers. You have the voluntary session, where race has to work to a point where they start the market. Clearly, I love Warren Buffett's comment, which if you allow me, if I can find it, I was under the impression, this was an interview with Mike Hitt, not about the market, but, you know, Warren Buffett, quite some time ago, observed that where bull markets gets going,
People basically ignore the interest rates and profits, and they figure out that they're making money, and they can't filter it out of the stock market. This was a speech he gave in 1999.
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