Cooperman’s Omega Advisors Snags Stake in RIM

Research In Motion has an influential new investor: Leon Cooperman, the billionaire former head of Goldman Sachs’ asset management arm and founder of hedge fund Omega Advisors.

Sometime earlier this fall, Omega picked up 1.425 million shares of the struggling BlackBerry maker, whose stock has been charting increasingly ugly 52-week lows recently. Indeed, RIM’s shares today closed at $17.58 after first plummeting to $17.17, a new 52-week low that dropped the company’s already much-diminished market cap south of $10 billion.

Now, 1.425 million shares isn’t a huge stake, by any means, particularly given the number RIM has outstanding. Still, it’s interesting that Cooperman has taken a position in the company. Perhaps he has some faith in RIM’s upcoming transition to BBX. That or he’s simply doing a bit of bottom-feeding …