CNBC regular and media investor Leon Cooperman’s TV appearance went viral this week. His rant has racked up over 4.5MM views on Twitter alone.
In recent weeks, a growing crowd of investors using trading platforms like Robinhood started buying stocks like GameStop, Tootsie Roll Industries, Nokia and AMC Entertainment. The New York Times reported that “some believed some were good values, some got in on a lark, and some just wanted to stick it to hedge funds and other bigshots that had bet against these beleaguered shares.”
GameStop closed on the New York Stock Exchange at $325 on Friday. That was a 68% increase over the prior day alone. The video game retailer was just one stock that saw a stratospheric rise.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Cooperman had seen enough. He went on CNBC January 28 and was “irate” according to the Gothamist. He pegged the market activity to “people are sitting at home getting their checks from the government.” That appears to be a shot at unemployed Americans collecting unemployment and COVID-19 stimulus funds.
He didn’t stop there. He angrily said to stop attacking “wealthy people.”
“This fair share is a bullshit concept. It’s a way of attacking wealthy people.”
Leon Cooperman on CNBC January 28, 2021
Cooperman holds investments in media companies, including AMC Networks, Gannett, Facebook and Lee Enterprises.
