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LEON COOPERMAN
Omega Advisors, Inc..

U.S. Stock Picker, Active Value Investor Eyeball-to-Eyeball

I spoke with Leon Cooperman, chairman and chief executive officer of Omega Advisors, after trading hours on May 31, 2000. It was an exciting day for him in the markets. On that day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4.8 percent. He had a long position in Aetna, going on 14 months. The day of our meeting, CNBC's David Faber came out with a rumor that ING Group was in renewed talks to buy Aetna's financial services and international business for more than $8.5 billion. This was good news for Cooperman. Aetna moved up $4 that day. I saw Cooperman in action. Unable to contain himself, he took and made many telephone calls during our time together. The calls ranged from