Leon Cooperman and NJPAC CEO John Schreiber Talk $50 NJPAC DOnation

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Bloomberg Talks

Episode: Leon Cooperman and NJPAC CEO John Schreiber Talk $50M NJPAC Donation
Date: October 3, 2025
Host: Bloomberg
Guests:

• Leon Cooperman, Chair & CEO of Omega Family Office
• John Schreiber, President & CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the $50 million donation made by renowned investor and philanthropist Leon Cooperman to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). It delves into Cooperman’s motivation for giving, the broader impact of philanthropic investment in communities, and the challenges facing urban centers like Newark. The conversation also includes Cooperman’s perspectives on the current market environment and his continued approach to philanthropy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Leon Cooperman’s Market Outlook

• Market Caution and Overvaluation

  • Cooperman expresses unease about current market conditions:

    • “I'm not comfortable. I think I'm less optimistic than the consensus. I'm bothered by the excess valuation. We're in the 98th percentile valuation in history.” (02:13)

  • Cites macro concerns and heavy reliance on debt as warning signs.

  • Predicts risk with excessive market optimism and compares the situation to previous bull markets, bringing in Warren Buffett’s wisdom:

    “Once the bull market gets underway and once you reach the point where everybody has made money, no matter what system... a crowd is attracted to the game... They become convinced that there is a God, that he wants them to get rich. That's a great description of what's going on now.” — Leon Cooperman quoting Warren Buffett (04:24)

• AI Investment

  • When asked if Omega Family Office is using AI:
    • “People ask. I was born too early.” (06:00)

2. The $50 Million NJPAC Donation

• Motivation for the Gift

  • Cooperman describes his philanthropy as an extension of his personal journey and the "American Dream":

    “My wife and I have lived the American dream. Our financial resources are largely being directed to help the inner city kids achieve what we have...” (06:36)

  • Emphasizes the importance of giving back, citing his background as the son of Polish immigrants who rose from modest means.

• Philosophy on Wealth

  • Outlines his view on money:

    “There are four things you can do with money... You can pleasure yourself, buy planes, automobiles, baseball teams. There’s nothing wrong with that. My wife and I have simple tastes. We both have a similar view that less is more.” (07:57)

3. Impact on NJPAC and Newark

• Transformative Power of the Gift

  • NJPAC CEO John Schreiber elaborates on the direct and lasting impact:

    “It's a remarkable gift... We spend at NJPAC about $8 million a year on what we call social impact work. That's work in arts education, community engagement, the intersection of arts and health.” (08:46)

  • The gift supports NJPAC’s reach to over 100,000 kids and families annually, much of it in under-resourced communities.
  • Details the upcoming Cooperman Center, a 60,000-square-foot facility focused on free community programming.

• Sustaining Community Work

  • The $50M is an endowment, with hopes to double that via further fundraising.
    • “We did financial modeling... If we can endow this work with $100 million, we will be able to deliver services every year in a predictable fashion.” (10:13)

4. Public-Private Partnership and Urban Challenges

• Reduced Government Funding

  • Cooperman points to the critical role of private philanthropy:

    “The private sector has to step up... The government has reduced funding dramatically, and the needs are growing.” (11:41)

• Newark’s Trajectory

  • Schreiber provides an optimistic outlook:

    “Newark is an under-resourced city. It's one of the poorest in the country. That said, Newark is on the rise.” (13:08)

  • Highlights real estate development, collaborations with major local companies, and improvements in crime and social services.

5. Cooperman’s Broader Philanthropy

• Cooperman College Scholars Program

  • Funds higher education access for local students:

    “If you live in Essex County, New Jersey... and you're academically qualified... we'll give you a four year college education for free.” (14:57)

  • Quantifies impact with improved graduation rates:

    “Our first cohort graduated a year ago. We had a 35% graduation rate, which is competitive nationwide.” (16:03)

  • Recently endowed the program with an additional $25 million, aiming for perpetuity.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Leon Cooperman on Market Exuberance:

  "People basically ignore the interest rates and profits and... can't afford to be out of stock market... They become convinced that there is a God, that he wants them to get rich." (04:24)

• Cooperman on American Dream:

  "We want to give kids today a chance to achieve the same things that my wife and I achieved. It's as simple as that." (06:36)

• Schreiber on Predictable Community Support:

  "We want to endow that work. No matter what is happening in the economy... we can predictably deliver these important kind of life changing services to community." (09:13)

• Cooperman on Philanthropy and Impact:

  "I'm big on giving people equal opportunity for net equal outcomes." (14:57)
  "There's no shortage of good causes and the shortage is mine." (16:41)

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Important Timestamps

• Background on Leon Cooperman & Philanthropy: 00:29 – 01:20
• Market View & Buffett Quote: 02:13 – 05:37
• Motivation for $50M NJPAC Gift: 06:36 – 08:31
• John Schreiber on Impact & Metrics: 08:46 – 11:03
• Cooperman on Public-Private Balance: 11:41 – 12:30
• Schreiber on Newark's Renaissance: 13:08 – 14:34
• Cooperman on College Scholars Program: 14:57 – 16:41

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Tone and Character

The conversation is direct, insightful, and occasionally candid, especially when Cooperman discusses the realities of market speculation and philanthropy. Both guests express optimism about Newark’s future and the power of private giving to create lasting community impact.

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For listeners interested in finance, philanthropy, or urban development, this episode offers both the perspective of a major donor and the leader of a key cultural institution, set against the backdrop of evolving American cities.

Transcript

[Indiana University Narrator]

Indiana University is shaping the future of healthcare, advancing discoveries that become treatments for Alzheimer's, obesity, cancer and rare diseases and training the providers trusted to deliver them from the lab to the clinic. IU powers medical breakthroughs and the talent behind them. See how IU solves What's next iu Edu Impact.

[Bloomberg Host]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

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.

[Bloomberg Host]

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 $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 the Omega Family Office. He joins us along with John Schreiber, President CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts center, both joining us from Newark. And gentlemen, great to have you here with us. Thank you.

[Leon Cooperman]

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.

[Bloomberg Host]

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 US Stocks?

[Leon Cooperman]

I'm not comfortable. I think I'm less optimistic in the consensus. I'm bothered by the excess evaluation history when the 98 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 since no one has to finance them. So there's tremendous demand for credit. I think the surprise would be when they cut short rates. Long way to move up stock market very expensive relative to long rates. It can become a problem for stock market.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

When does it become a problem?

[Leon Cooperman]

Yeah, you don't know. You 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 these, all these announcements of these deals with the centers, data centers. You have to either fall into recession or rates have to move up to a point where they started the market. Clearly. I love Warren Buffett's comment, which, if you allow me, if I could find it, I, I was under the impression this was an interview with my guest, not about the market. But you know, Warren Buffett quite some time ago observed that when bull markets gets going, people basically ignore the interest rates and profits and they figured out that they're making money and that they can't afford to be out of stock market. And I'll read it here. This was a speech he gave in 1999. Right. Once the bull market gets underway and once you reach the point where everybody has made money, no matter what system he or she has followed, a crowd is attracted to the game is responding to interest rates and profits, but simply to the fact that it seems to be a mistake to be out of stocks. In fact, these people superimpose on, on, on. And I can't miss the party factor on top of the fundamental issue that drive the market. Like Pavlov dog, these Vestas in quotes learn how the bell rings. In this case the one that opened the New York stock exchange in 9:30am At 9:30am they get fed. This is daily reinforcement. They become convinced that there is a God, that he wants them to get rich. That's a great description of what's going on now. People that were negative on the stock market returning positive. And the market's in 98% valuation versus history. We have a very unusual president is doing unusual things now. He's trying his best, but he inherited a difficult hand. And I think the stuff with tariffs is a mistake. But, you know, I'm uncomfortable.

[Bloomberg Host]

Yet it's interesting. You talked about data centers too in the AI spend. I mean, we did have Jeff Bezos of Course, Amazon saying that the spending on artificial intelligence resembles an industrial bubble that could lead to lost investment, but will also make society better off. Can I just ask you real quickly, AI is your family office using it?

[Leon Cooperman]

People ask. I was born too early.

[Bloomberg Host]

I totally get it. We're talking with Leon Cooperman, Lee Cooperman, chair and CEO of Omega Family Office. With us from New Jersey, John Schreiber. Also with us, president and CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. And we do want to get to this gift that you have made, Lee, to the New Jersey Pack. We often talk with you about markets, but we also do take note of your philanthropy. Why this investment? 50 million donation to the New Jersey Performing Arts center, the largest individual gift in the arts center's history. Why did you do that?

[Leon Cooperman]

Well, let me just say you have to know the background. So, simply stated, my wife and I have lived the American dream. And our financial resources are largely being directed to help the inner city kids achieve what we have been by virtue of their hard work, luck, and a few intuitive decisions during my earlier on in my career. So, in my case, my father came to America in 1920 from Warsaw, Poland. He came at the age of 12. So he was born in 1908, and he had no ed, no formal education. And I went to public school in the Bronx, high school in the Bronx, College in the West Bronx. Both my grade school and my public school was the East Bronx. I followed the advice of Holly Scribbling, I went west. I moved to the West Bronx, and then I had a Schwarzenegger at Columbia Business School, which opened the door to Goldman Sachs, my career on Wall Street. So, you know, we want to give kids today a chance to achieve the same things that my wife and I achieved. It's as simple as that. Yeah. And I figured out four things you can do with money, you know, and I'm no different than your boss, Mike Bloomberg, except I have a few less heroes.

[Bloomberg Host]

Understood.

[Leon Cooperman]

For 25 years. Yeah. Since I returned able to vote. That's 40 years ago. And when he ran for president, I switched to the Democratic Party so I can vote, work for him, and, and support him. Unfortunately, he kind of flamed out very quickly. But I said there were four things you could do with money. First thing you do money is you can pleasure yourself and buy planes by automobile, by baseball teams. There's nothing wrong with that. My wife and I have simple taste. We both have a similar view that less is more. So.

[Bloomberg Host]

And, you know, one of the things we want to do, Lee, is actually talk to John Schreiber about what this money means to him.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Yeah, John Schreiber, come on in here. President CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Talk about how transformative this gift is. What exactly you can do with the $50 million?

[John Schreiber]

It's a remarkable gift and we of course, couldn't be more grateful to Lee and Toby for making it. It's an endowment gift. We spend at NJPAC about $8 million a year on what we call social impact work. That's work in arts education, community engagement, the intersection of arts and health. Almost everything we do for community. And we are living in an under resourced community of Newark and Greater Newark is free to communities. So we reach 100,000 kids and families every year. And we are opening in about two years what is called the Koopman Center. Lee made an earlier gift of $20 million that was a starter gift for an education and community center, 60,000 square feet on our campus that will be open six days a week. Every activity we do there, from to mothers and babies to older adults, will be freed a community. And we want to endow that work. No matter what is happening in the economy or more broadly from the government, we can predictably deliver these important kind of life changing services to community. And Lee and Toby made that possible with this gift.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

John, we're Bloomberg. We talk about data. We like to measure things. I want to know from you how you measure the impact of a gift such as this. What are the metrics you use to make sure that it is effective, to make sure that you're using the money in the most effective way possible?

[John Schreiber]

Well, it's interesting. It's a combination of real data and what we hear and learn from community. So we did financial modeling that showed us what not only Lee's gift, but I hope to raise another $50 million in the next couple of years so that this work is endowed with $100 million. And that will enable us, based on our research, to deliver services every year in a predictable fashion. And then what we see with our kids and what we see with our families, sometimes this work can change a life. I know it always enhances the lives of the people that we're engaged with.

[Bloomberg Host]

Lee, I think about, I want to bring you back in here. I think about this political environment that we are in and, you know, with the government shutdown money, not going to different states for different projects. We know the importance of both public private sector in making cities more secure and creating economic activity and kind of spreading the wealth, if you will, among citizens And I wonder if there's a kind of a big broad observation for you, especially like as we talked about a little bit earlier, this kind of politically divided environment and the economic and market consequences of such.

[Leon Cooperman]

Well, I think the needs are even greater. The government has reduced funding dramatically and the needs are growing. I caught on TV the other day, the mayor of Los Angeles said something like this, 50,000 homeless people in LA and they were looking to wealthy people to help cover the cost. And I said to myself, my God, state of California has the highest state income tax in the country and they can't afford to pay the bills. So I think the private sector has to step up and the government has to kind of reduce their cost of living. Not an easy thing to do. We've had inappropriate policies on both sides. I think while Trump is objected to by many people, I think he understands the need to do something and I just think he's doing it the wrong way.

[Bloomberg Host]

John, I want to bring you back in here as president and CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. You talked about the impact of this money. But you know, I have done things at njit. We've done live broadcasts from there. We have seen Audible and Amazon and some of the different companies that have invested in that area. And we've seen kind of the starts and stops of certainly Newark as a whole. A city that is certainly got quite a storied history. Right. Tell us what you can about the economy of Newark right now. And again, you know, I think when we look at cities, we get a better picture of America as a whole.

[John Schreiber]

Well, Newark is a certainly an under resourced city. It's one of the poorest cities in the country. That said Newark is on the rise. We have a really effective mayor. He's a practical progressive. I'm sure you've talked to him. His name is Ras Baraka. And right now, thanks to this mayor and to Governor Murphy and to philanthropists like Lee, this arts center is in the middle of a $350 million real estate development project that includes 245 units of residential, the education center, townhomes, new streetscape. And this is all on the NJPEC campus. Right? And what we've observed in Newark is that if you build it, they will. So as a, as a community on the rise, as a residential community with a, with a bright future, Newark has got that. Crime is down. We're dealing with homelessness and food insecurity in very intentional ways. And it's a very collaborative community. So as an anchor cultural institution, Which NJPEC defines itself as. We feel like we're in really good company with Prudential, with Horizon, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, with Audible, with Panasonic, with lots of corporate anchors who are, including Barnabas Health, who are invested in the economic future of the city, but also the bright lives of the folks who live here.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Lee, I want to end with you and send one last question your way about the way you're thinking about your own future impact. As I mentioned, you've spent a lot supporting causes, including Columbia Business School, St. Barnabas Health, other healthcare facilities as well, of course, the performing arts. Not just with this most recent gift, but with other gifts as well. Where else are you thinking of supporting?

[Leon Cooperman]

Well, I have a long list of things I support. One of the things that I like the most other than New Jersey for the art center is I create something called Koopman College Scholars. And so basically, if you live in Essex County, New Jersey, and you take a three week free course at Orford to explain what to expect when you're in college and you're academically qualified, I'm big on giving people equal opportunity for net equal outcomes that will give you a four year college education for free. And so now you asked for measurements. So I gave that program $25 million seven years ago. And I told them I knew the statistics. 35% of new practical kids, 35% of new classical kids went to college. Only 5% graduated. I told them I worked too hard for this money for 5% graduation rate, you got to show me a change. Well, our first cohort graduated a year ago. We had a 35% graduation rate, which is competitive nationwide. I gave another 25 million this morning. I asked them what I have to do to endow the program to, you know, in perpetuity, you know. So I'm thinking now at my age of doing bequests, organizations that have supported Columbia, I support Hunter College, I supported New Jersey Performing Guard Center, I supported Barnabas, which is now at their initiation. A guy I have enormous regard for is Ken Langone. When I gave to Barnabas, they asked me if they could change the name of the hospital to Kumen. Bambas said, why do you want to do that? He said, well, Ken Langone did a lot for nyu. And I said, I don't have his money, though. I have enormous respect for Ken. He's a very special guy. So, you know, there's no shortage of good causes and the shortage of my.

[Bloomberg Host]

Well, we certainly appreciate getting some time with both of you and the best to both of you, Lee Cooperman, thank you. Chair and CEO of the Omega Family Office. And of course, John Schreiber, president and CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts center, both joining us from New Jersey.

[Akshat Rati]

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[John Schreiber]

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[Leon Cooperman]

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[John Schreiber]

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[Akshat Rati]

The creative minds you haven't heard of yet. It is serious stuff, but never doom and gloom. I am Akshat Rati. Listen to Zero every Thursday from Bloomberg Podcasts on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you get your podcasts.