May 8, 2008 5:35PM

A True Market Maven

By Alexis Glick

Every Thursday on The Opening Bell, we do a special “Market Maven” segment with a true business world legend. This week, our guest was Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors — he’s the chairman & CEO and one of the most highly respected value investors in the business. He’s the guy who gets quoted everywhere. He loves to talk about and invest in media companies like DirecTV and Cablevision, and has made agressive purchases of companies like Diebold, a manufacturer of ATMs and voting machines.

GAMCO Investors is a diversified asset management and financial services company. The firm manages money for high net worth individuals, institutions and pension plans.

This morning, I asked Gabelli if he agreed with Treasury Secretary Paulson’s comment that the worst of the credit crisis is behind us. He disagreed! I asked him if we were in a recession. He said it started on November 1st of last year! We talked about stocks, media, inflation, M&A — you name it. It was very telling. Take a look. He sees opportunities in this market!!!!