Kevin O'Leary

Last updated

Kevin O'Leary
KevinOLeary2023.jpg
O'Leary in 2023
Born
Terrence Thomas Kevin O'Leary

(1954-07-09) July 9, 1954 (age 70)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Other names
  • Mr. Wonderful
Citizenship
  • Canada
  • Ireland
  • United Arab Emirates
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Businessman, investor, journalist, author, television personality
Known for Reality TV host,
CNBC and BNN contributor
Political party Conservative (2004–present)
Liberal (before 2004)
Spouse
Linda Greer
(m. 1990)
Children2
Website kevinoleary.com

Terrence Thomas Kevin O'Leary (born July 9, 1954), sometimes called Mr. Wonderful, is a Canadian politician and businessman, investor, journalist, author, and television personality. [1] From 2004 to 2014, he appeared on various Canadian television shows, including the business news programs SqueezePlay and The Lang and O'Leary Exchange , as well as the Canadian reality television shows Dragons' Den and Redemption Inc. [2] In 2008, he appeared on Discovery Channel's Project Earth . Since 2009, he has appeared on Shark Tank , the American version of Dragons' Den .

Contents

O'Leary co-founded SoftKey Software Products, a technology company that sold software geared toward family education and entertainment. During the late 1980s and 1990s, SoftKey became a major consolidator in the global educational software market, having acquired rival companies via hostile takeover bids, such as Compton's New Media, The Learning Company, and Broderbund. SoftKey later changed its name to The Learning Company and was acquired by Mattel in 1999, with the sale making O'Leary a multimillionaire. [3] [4] Mattel then fired him after the acquisition which resulted in significant losses and multiple shareholder lawsuits. [4]

In 2017, he campaigned to be the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. [5] [6] He was a frontrunner in the polls during much of that time but dropped out in April 2017, one month before the election, citing a lack of support in Quebec. [7] [8]

Early life and education

O'Leary was born on 9 July 1954, [9] in Montreal, one of two sons of Georgette (née Bookalam), a small-business owner and investor of Lebanese descent, and Terry O'Leary, a salesman of Irish descent. Kevin also has a brother, Shane O'Leary. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] Due to his paternal heritage, O'Leary also holds Irish citizenship and carries an Irish passport. [14] O'Leary has dyslexia, which he argued helped him in the world of business. [15]

O'Leary grew up in the Town of Mount Royal, [2] Quebec. His parents divorced when he was a child, largely due to his father's alcoholism. [9] His father died shortly after that, when O'Leary was only seven. [16] After his father's death, his mother ran the family's clothing business as an executive. [17] His mother later married an economist, George Kanawaty, [18] who worked with the UN's International Labour Organization. [12] [19] His stepfather's international assignments caused the family to move frequently, and O'Leary lived in many places while growing up, including Cambodia, Ethiopia, Tunisia, and Cyprus. [20] In his youth, he met both Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Pol Pot of Cambodia. [21] O'Leary attended Stanstead College [22] and St. George's School, both in Quebec. [2]

O'Leary's mother was a skilled investor, investing a third of her weekly paycheque in large-cap, dividend-paying stocks and interest-bearing bonds, ultimately achieving high returns in her investment portfolio. She kept her investment portfolio secret, so O'Leary only discovered his mother's skill as an investor after her death when her will was executed. [23] Many of his investment lessons came from his mother, including the admonition to save one-third of his money. [2] [23] [24] [25]

O'Leary had aspired to become a photographer, but on the advice of his stepfather who prompted the young Kevin to be more realistic with his future career aspirations, ultimately led him to attend university, [19] where he continued to develop his interest in business and investing since his youth. [26] He received an honours bachelor's degree in environmental studies and psychology from the University of Waterloo in 1977 [27] [28] [29] and an MBA in entrepreneurship from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario in 1980. [28] [29]

Business career

In 1978, between the first and second years of his MBA program, O'Leary was selected for an internship at Nabisco in Downtown Toronto and then worked as an assistant brand manager for Nabisco's cat food brand. [24] [25] [30] O'Leary attributed his future business success at The Learning Company as a result of the extensive marketing skills that he honed during his assistant brand management days at Nabisco. [31]

After leaving Nabisco, O'Leary began a brief career as a television producer. With two of his former MBA classmates, Scott Mackenzie and Dave Toms (both of whom had assisted on O'Leary's MBA documentary), O'Leary co-founded Special Event Television (SET). [17] [32] [33] SET was an independent television production company that produced original sports programming such as The Original Six, Don Cherry's Grapevine,Bobby Orr and the Hockey Legends. The company achieved limited success with minor television shows, soccer films, sports documentaries, and short in-between-period commercials for local professional hockey games. [4] [24] [34] [35] [36] One of his partners later bought out his share of the venture for $25,000. [2] [33]

Softkey

After selling his SET share, O'Leary then proceeded by moving onto his next business venture. He started Softkey in a Toronto basement in 1986, along with business partners John Freeman and Gary Babcock. [36] The company was a publisher and distributor of CD-based personal computer software for Windows and Macintosh computers. A major financial supporter who had committed $250,000 in investment capital to finance O'Leary's company backed out the day before signing the documents and delivering his cheque, leaving O'Leary to go elsewhere to seek the necessary funding sources that he needed to support his fledgling business. Desperate to secure funding, O'Leary turned to using the proceeds that he gained from selling his SET share while also convincing his mother to lend him $10,000 in seed capital to establish SoftKey Software Products. [37]

As the software and personal-computer industries were proliferating throughout the course of the early 1980s, O'Leary convinced printer manufacturers to bundle Softkey's program with their hardware. With distribution assured, the company developed several educational software products focused on mathematics and reading education. Softkey products typically consisted of software for home users, especially compilation discs containing various freeware or shareware games packaged in "jewel-case" CD-ROMs. [4] [25]

Softkey weathered stiff competition from other software companies in the late 1980s and prospered throughout the 1990s. By 1993, Softkey had become a major consolidator in the educational software market, acquiring rivals such as WordStar and Spinnaker Software in the process. [38] [39] In 1995, Softkey acquired The Learning Company (TLC) for $606 million, [40] adopting its name, and moved its headquarters to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

TLC lost $105 million (US) in 1998 on revenues of $800 million and suffered losses over the previous two years. [41] TLC bought its former rival Broderbund in June 1998 for $416 million.

In 1999, TLC was acquired by Mattel for US$4.2 billion. [36] Following the acquisition, sales and earnings for Mattel soon dropped, and O'Leary was fired. The purchase by Mattel was later called one of the most disastrous corporate acquisitions in recent business history. [42] While acquisition management had projected a post-acquisition profit of US$50 million, Mattel actually experienced a loss of US$105 million. Mattel's stock dropped, wiping out US$3 billion of shareholder value in a single day. Mattel's shareholders later filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Mattel executives, O'Leary, and former TLC CEO Michael Perik of misleading investors about the health of TLC and the benefits of its acquisition. The lawsuit alleged that TLC used accounting tricks to hide losses and inflate quarterly revenues. In response, O'Leary and his defendants disputed all of the charges, with Mattel later paying $122 million to settle the lawsuit in 2003. O'Leary blamed the technology meltdown and a culture clash of management of the two companies for the failure of the acquisition. [41] [43]

O'Leary and financial backers from Citigroup made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the French video game company Atari, with O'Leary having made plans to start a video-gaming television channel which never materialized. [4]

StorageNow Holdings

In 2003, O'Leary became a co-investor and corporate director at StorageNow Holdings, a Canadian developer of climate-controlled storage facilities controlled by Reza and Asif Satchu. [44] StorageNow became the operator of storage services in Canada, with facilities in 11 cities, and was acquired by Storage REIT in March 2007 for $110 million. [4] O'Leary later sold his shares which yielded a windfall profit exceeding $4.5 million through realized capital gains, with his initial stake being originally valued at $500,000. [4]

In May 2005, Reza Satchu and O'Leary's operating partner, Wheeler, filed a $10-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit, charging that they had altered an agreed-upon compensation deal and illegally reduced Wheeler's share of the profits. [4] O'Leary and Satchu claimed Wheeler failed to reach performance targets. [45] The case was settled out of court. [4]

Other ventures

In March 2007, O'Leary joined the advisory board of Genstar Capital, a private equity firm that focuses on investing in health care, industrial technology, business services, and software. Genstar Capital appointed O'Leary to its Strategic Advisory Board to seek new investment opportunities for its $1.2 billion fund. [46]

O'Leary Funds

In 2008, O'Leary co-founded O'Leary Funds Inc., a mutual fund management firm focused on global yield investing. He is the company's chairman and lead investor, while his brother Shane O'Leary serves as the director. The fund's assets under management grew from $400 million in 2011 to $1.2 billion in 2012. [47] The fund's primary manager was Stanton Asset Management, a firm controlled by the husband-and-wife team of Connor O'Brien and Louise Ann Poirier. [25]

According to research by Canadian banker Mark R. McQueen, O'Leary's fund increased distribution yield from his funds by returning invested capital to shareholders. While this is not unusual, it was contrary to O'Leary's statements. [48] Another analysis also found that one-quarter of the distributions from one of O'Leary's funds were return of capital. [45]

In November 2014, O'Leary Funds Management agreed to pay penalties to the Autorité des marchés financiers for violating certain technical provisions of the Securities Act. At the time of the agreement, O'Leary Funds reported taking steps to correct the violations. [49] On October 15, 2015, O'Leary Funds was sold to Canoe Financial, a private investment-management company owned by Canadian businessman W. Brett Wilson. Wilson once was an investor with O'Leary on CBC's Dragons' Den. [50]

O'Leary Ventures

O'Leary is also the founder of O'Leary Ventures, a private early-stage venture capital investment company, [51] O'Leary Mortgages, O'Leary books, and O'Leary Fine Wines. [52] [53] In April 2014, O'Leary Mortgages closed. [54] O'Leary's funds have a questionable history and are said to have declined over 20% in a year, often a big blow to fund managers. O'Leary no longer manages outside money. [55]

ETF and investing

On July 14, 2015, O'Leary launched an ETF through O'Shares Investments, a division of his investment fund, O'Leary Funds Management LP where O'Leary serves as chairman. A value investor, he has advised on personal finance. [56] He advocates portfolio diversification and suggests that investors have their age as the percentage of bonds in their portfolios (i.e., 30% in bonds and 70% in stocks for a 30-year-old investor, with an increasing proportion of bonds and decreasing proportion of stocks as the investor ages). [56] O'Leary has also "stated on many occasions that he won't invest in publicly-traded stock unless it pays him a dividend." [57]

O'Leary is also an active gold investor, with five percent of his financial portfolio invested in physical gold. However, he does not invest in stocks of gold-mining companies because he says cash flow is an important investment factor to him. [58] [59] [60] O'Leary also advises diversification in multiple industry sectors while dedicating no more than 20 percent of one's financial portfolio being concentrated in one sector. [61] [62]

Cryptocurrencies

O'Leary initially expressed skepticism about cryptocurrencies. In May 2019, O'Leary told CNBC bitcoin is "a digital game" and is a "useless currency". He illustrated his thinking with the following example, "Let's say you want to buy a piece of real estate for $10 million in Switzerland...They want a guarantee that the value comes back to the U.S. currency. You have to somehow hedge the risk of bitcoin. That means it's not a real currency. That means the receiver is not willing to take the risk of the volatility it has. It's worthless." [63]

In May 2021, O'Leary told Pomp podcast host Anthony Pompliano that he had made a 3 to 5% allocation to bitcoin and had become a strategic investor in the Vancouver-based decentralized finance platform Defi Ventures; [64] the company then renamed itself WonderFi Technologies, in reference to O'Leary's nickname, "Mr. Wonderful".

In August 2021, it was announced O'Leary would take an ownership stake in the parent companies of FTX.com and FTX.US as part of his compensation for becoming a "spokesperson and ambassador" for FTX. [65] FTX subsequently went bankrupt due to CEO Sam Bankman-Fried secretly using client funds to make speculative bets that were unsuccessful. In November 2022, O'Leary, alongside other spokespeople for FTX, was sued in a class-action lawsuit. [66] [67] [68] There is precedent for prosecuting individuals promoting fraudulent cryptocurrency ventures—regardless of whether they had plausible deniability. For example, in February 2022, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media. [69] O'Leary claimed on CNBC that he was paid $15 million for the spokesman role, adding that he lost $9.7 million in digital assets, the remainder allotment in various fees and taxes, and a further million dollars' worth of equity after the company's insolvency. At an FTX hearing, O'Leary claimed that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao "put FTX out of business." [70]

O'Leary has been an advocate of cryptocurrency investing and personally owns coins in the cryptocurrencies Ether, A4M Ethereum Blockchain, Polygon, SOL, Bitcoin, and Pawthereum. [71]

Books

In September 2011, O'Leary released his first book, Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life, in which he shares his views on family relationships, investing, money, and life. [72] A sequel, The Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women, and Money: 50 Common Money Mistakes and How to Fix Them, was published in 2012. The book's emphasis was placed on recognizing the significance of cultivating financial literacy and financial education, which serve as fundamental pillars for building and attaining financial abundance, freedom, and stability. [73] In 2015, O'Leary published a subsequent work delving into topics pertaining to important life choices such as education, choice of career paths, managing personal financial matters and fiscal stewardship, romantic relationships, matrimony, raising children, familial bonds, and retirement planning. Furthermore, he explores the challenges associated with parenting and nurturing a family while concurrently working to provide wealth and financial security for them. He also imparts guidance on managing one's personal financial situation, ranging from the importance of inculcating financial literacy values within family members, promoting the habitual practice of saving and investing money, as well as properly and proficiently managing loans, debts, and credit. [74]

Media

Dragons' Den and Shark Tank

In 2006, O'Leary appeared as one of the five follow-up venture capitalists on the then-new show Dragons' Den on CBC, the Canadian installment of the international Dragons' Den format. On the show, O'Leary developed a persona as a blunt, abrasive investor, who at one point told a contestant who started crying, "Money doesn't care. Your tears don't add any value." [4] [75] This television persona was encouraged by executive producer Stuart Coxe, who occasionally asked O'Leary to be "more evil" during the first two seasons. [76] Dragons' Den became one of the most-watched shows in CBC history, with around two million viewers per episode. [4] Coxe attributed the show's success in large part to O'Leary's presence. [4]

In 2009, the American version of Dragons' Den, Shark Tank , began, and Shark Tank executive producer Mark Burnett invited two of the CBC Dragons' Den investors, O'Leary and Robert Herjavec, to appear on the show. Both have remained with Shark Tank since the beginning. For several years, they appeared on both shows, although Herjavec left Dragons' Den in 2012, and O'Leary left in 2014. Shark Tank became a ratings hit, averaging 9 million viewers per episode at its peak in the 2014–15 season. [77] It has also been a critical favourite, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program four times. [78]

O'Leary's appearances on Dragons' Den and Shark Tank popularized the nickname "Mr. Wonderful" for him; he has said that he is often referred to by that name in public. [79] O'Leary has said that the nickname serves both as a tongue-in-cheek reference to his reputation for being mean, [80] as well as a reflection of his view that his blunt assessments are helpful to misguided, naive, and inexperienced entrepreneurs. In a 2013 interview, O'Leary implied that he could not remember how he got the nickname. [79] He had already referred to himself as "Mr. Wonderful" in a 2006 casting video for Dragon's Den, predating either show. [81]

Besides his acerbic demeanor, domineering imposition, and blunt television persona, O'Leary has also gained a reputation on both shows for preferring deals in which he loans the entrepreneurs money in exchange for a percentage of future revenue, rather than taking a share of the company. [82]

Notable deals in which O'Leary has been involved on Shark Tank include investments in Talbott Teas (later bought by Jamba Juice) [83] and GrooveBook (later bought by Shutterfly), the latter with Mark Cuban. [84] Some of his recent investments include Hello Prenup with Nirav Tolia of Nextdoor. All of his Dragons' Den and Shark Tank investments are consolidated, presided, and managed under his holding company, called "Something Wonderful." [82]

Discovery Channel's Discovery Project Earth

In 2008, O'Leary worked as a co-host for the Discovery Channel's Discovery Project Earth , a show that explores innovative ways to reverse climate change. [85] [86]

The Lang and O'Leary Exchange

In 2009, O'Leary began appearing with journalist Amanda Lang on CBC News Network's The Lang and O'Leary Exchange . During a segment of The Lang & O'Leary Exchange on the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011, O'Leary criticized Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges for sounding "like a left-wing nutbar." Hedges said afterward that "it will be the last time" he would appear on the show and compared the CBC to Fox News. [87] CBC's ombudsman found O'Leary's behaviour to be a violation of the public broadcaster's journalistic standards. [88]

In January 2014, on The Lang and O'Leary Exchange, O'Leary remarked,

It's fantastic, and this is a great thing because it inspires everybody, gets them motivation to look up to the one percent and say, 'I want to become one of those people, I'm going to fight hard to get up to the top.' This is fantastic news, and, of course, I applaud it. What can be wrong with this? I celebrate capitalism. Don't tell me that you want to redistribute wealth again, that's never gonna happen... Redistribution of wealth doesn't work, we tried it in the Soviet Union, North Korea, would you like to live there? [89] [90] [91]

O'Leary later clarified these statements, saying,

No I don't think poverty is fantastic. I don't think income disparity is fantastic. What I think is how successful capitalism has been over the last hundred years reducing poverty and reducing income disparity. In the last 30 years the number of people living on this globe in extreme poverty has been reduced from 42% down to 17%. Amanda, I want you to thank capitalism for that, because that's how it happened. [92]

Other projects

In 2009, O'Leary hosted a Winnipeg Comedy Festival gala called Savings & Groans in which he performed a Dragon's Den style sketch in which Sean Cullen and Ron Sparks tried to get him to invest in their invention - the wheel. The show aired on CBC in 2010.

O'Leary co-produced and hosted the 2012 reality show Redemption Inc. , which aired for one season on CBC, in which ten ex-convicts competed to have O'Leary fund their business idea. [2] Having also been a co-host of SqueezePlay on Bell Media's Business News Network (BNN), he returned to the Discovery Channel on September 1, 2014 to join as a contributor for its radio and television stations such as CTV. [93] [94]

On May 5, 2015, O'Leary made an appearance on the game show Celebrity Jeopardy and received $10,000 for his charity despite finishing 3rd and in negative points after both Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy rounds. [95] In September that year, O'Leary appeared as a celebrity judge in the 95th Miss America pageant. [96]

In 2018 O'Leary hosted the podcast Ask Mr. Wonderful for seven episodes. [97] In 2019, he began regularly posting videos on YouTube, again under the title "Ask Mr. Wonderful". [98]

In 2021, O'Leary appeared with Katie Phang and Ada Pozo on CNBC's Money Court, where they adjudicated financial disputes. [99]

He is currently a member of ARHT Media's Board of Advisors, alongside Canadian singer Paul Anka and Mexican telecommunications giant Carlos Slim. [100]

Political Activity

In January 2016, O'Leary offered to invest $1 million in the economy of Alberta in exchange for the resignation of Premier Rachel Notley [101] and appeared with four other prospective leadership candidates at a conference for federal Conservatives in late February 2016, where he gave a presentation titled "If I Run, This is How." [102] [103] During his speech, he predicted that the Liberal government would fall within four years of economic collapse. [104]

2017 federal Conservative Party leadership race

O'Leary with Andrew Scheer in 2018 Kevin O'Leary and Andrew Scheer - 2018 (46074808521) (cropped).jpg
O'Leary with Andrew Scheer in 2018
Campaign logo O'Leary campaign logo.png
Campaign logo

Following Stephen Harper's resignation as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, O'Leary attended Conservative Party gatherings in February and May 2016, leading to public speculation about whether he would run for the 2017 leadership election. [105]

In February 2016, Maxime Bernier, a Conservative Quebecois politician, criticized O'Leary, calling him a "tourist" [106] for wanting to be prime minister without being able to speak French. [107] [108] Bernier later explained that he wanted all leadership candidates to learn French and praised his fellow leadership contender Lisa Raitt, who was trying to improve her French. O'Leary stated that he was taking French lessons, and he promised to learn French in time for the next federal election. [109]

On January 18, 2017, O'Leary officially entered the Conservative leadership race. [6] That same day, his former Dragons' Den co-star Arlene Dickinson stated that she found O'Leary to be too "self-interested and opportunistic" to be qualified for the office of prime minister. [110] In response, another former Dragons' Den co-star, W. Brett Wilson, endorsed O'Leary, highlighting differences between O'Leary as a businessman and his TV persona. [111]

On February 1, 2017, O'Leary posted a video of himself shooting in a Miami gun range. It was removed from Facebook out of respect for the funeral for three victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting on that day. It was also revealed that he was in New York promoting one of his business ventures when this occurred. O'Leary later apologized for the timing of this post. [112] [113]

O'Leary was a frontrunner in the polls throughout most of his run. Nevertheless, he dropped out of the leadership race on April 26, 2017, stating that, though he still thought he could win the leadership election, a lack of support in Quebec meant that it would be difficult for him to beat Trudeau in 2019, and it would thus be "selfish" of him to continue. On dropping out, he endorsed Bernier, another frontrunner for the position. [8] (Andrew Scheer eventually won the leadership election, narrowly edging out Bernier.)

Political positions

Economy and trade

O'Leary supports multilateral free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement. He described hypothetical trade negotiations between US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "Godzilla versus Bambi". [114] O'Leary believes corporate tax rates in Canada are too high and has promised to eliminate the national carbon tax. [115] O'Leary has threatened to punish provinces by withholding transfer payments if they do not eliminate their respective carbon taxes. [115] O'Leary is a critic of deficit spending and supports eliminating the national debt. [116]

O'Leary opposes control of the CRTC over Canada's telecommunications system. [117]

He has accused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York politician, of "killing jobs by the thousands," citing higher corporate taxes which she favors. [118]

Labor rights

O'Leary opposes right to disconnect legislation, which gives employees the legal right not to respond to work-related communications outside of working hours. [119]

Energy

O'Leary supports building a pipeline from the Athabasca oil sands to Eastern Canada with the intention of making Canada "energy independent". He has criticized Canada's reliance on Saudi Arabia for oil and gas. [120] He has stated he would support a national referendum on the issue of pipelines. [121]

Social

O'Leary describes his social policies as "very liberal". He supports same-sex marriage and transgender rights. [122] O'Leary supports the legalization and regulation of marijuana. [117]

O'Leary supports assisted suicide and cited Switzerland as a model for Canada to follow. [123]

Foreign and military policy

O'Leary supported ending Canadian airstrikes on ISIS and supports taking a peacekeeping role in the Syrian Civil War. [124]

In 2017, O'Leary described Russia as "neither an ally nor a foe" in an interview with the CBC. [125]

O'Leary has criticized Justin Trudeau's procurement plan. He supports purchasing aerial combat drones to defend Canadian airspace and supports phasing out the use of the Lockheed CP-140 Aurora citing cost reasons. [122] He has criticized the lack of funding of the Canadian Armed Forces and supports spending the NATO recommended 2% of GDP on military expenditures. [122] [126]

Immigration

O'Leary has proposed creating a "fast track" for citizenship for immigrants who graduate from college or university and find employment, as well as for their spouses and children. [5]

O'Leary has advocated for increased border security in order to tackle the issue of irregular border crossing. [127] [128] [129]

Senate

In a 2017 interview with Evan Solomon, O'Leary suggested that Senators should pay money every year, instead of being paid, thus turning "a cost centre to Canada" into "a profit centre." [130]

Leadership debt and lawsuit

In November 2018, O'Leary hired lawyer Joseph Groia and sued Elections Canada and Canada's federal elections commissioner over campaign finance laws which limited candidates to spending only $25,000 of their own money for their leadership campaign. At the time of the lawsuit, O'Leary still owed $430,000 to creditors. O'Leary had proposed to Elections Canada that he pay off the debt now with his own money and fundraise the money later, but was rebuffed, since this would be illegal. O'Leary publicly stated that the law promoted mediocrity since rich people would be discouraged from running and hurt the businesses that had pledged money for his failed leadership campaign. [131]

In O'Leary's legal submissions, he argued that the laws preventing the use of personal money over $25,000 were a restriction of his Section 2 Charter right to free expression and the threat of jail time in those laws violated his Section 7 right to security of the person. [131]

Personal life

O'Leary is Catholic. [132] He and his wife, Linda (née Greer), [133] have been married since 1990. [23] The couple separated in 2011, but they resumed their marriage after two years. [134] They have two children, Trevor and Savannah. [135] In a 2016 interview, O'Leary stated: "In a successful growing business, it eats your time alive. Then later in life, you can provide for your family things that many others can't have. But because you sacrificed, you're then given the reward of freedom." [136]

The O'Learys live in Miami Beach and Toronto. [137] He also maintains a cottage in Muskoka, Ontario, as well as homes in Boston and Geneva, Switzerland. [138] [139] [140] In a 2022 CNBC interview, he mentioned that he has obtained a UAE citizenship in order to be able to partner with Emiratis on investments. [141]

O'Leary is a fan of the New England Patriots football team and claims to watch all of their games, even when he is traveling around the world and games occur during the middle of the night. [79] He is a wine aficionado and belongs to the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, an international association of Burgundy wine enthusiasts. [142] He is also a lifelong photographer and has exhibited and sold prints of his photographs, donating the proceeds to charity. [143] O'Leary is also an avid watch collector and expert, sharing his insights on both Shark Tank and social media. [144]

Controversy

On August 24, 2019, O'Leary and his wife Linda were involved in a fatal crash on Lake Joseph in Muskoka, Ontario when they were on a boat owned by O'Leary and operated at the time by Linda. The O'Learys' boat collided with another one and a 64-year-old man and 48-year-old woman on that vessel were killed. [145] O'Leary said in a statement that he was cooperating with the police investigation and that the other boat did not have its lights on and "fled the scene". [146] The police stated that both boats left the scene to "attend a location", and both parties called 911." [147] On 24 September, Linda O'Leary was charged with "careless operation of a vessel" under the small vessel regulations of the Canada Shipping Act , a charge that carries maximum 18 months imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. The driver of the other boat, Richard Ruh of Orchard Park, New York, was charged with "failing to exhibit navigation light while underway." [148] On October 11, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada ruled out jail time for Linda. [149] On September 14, 2021, Linda was found not guilty of careless operation of the vessel. [150]

Bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

Dragons' Den is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is known as The Tigers of Money, a pun on "The Tiger of Malaya", which was the nickname of WWII general Tomoyuki Yamashita. The format was created and is owned by Nippon TV and is distributed by Sony Pictures Television.

SoftKey International was a software company founded by Kevin O'Leary in 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. It was known as The Learning Company from 1995 to 1999 after acquiring The Learning Company and taking its name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Lang</span> Canadian business journalist

Amanda Lang is a Canadian business journalist, and host of Taking Stock, a weekly business news program on CTV, BNN Bloomberg and CP24. Previously, she was the host of Bloomberg North on Bloomberg TV Canada. Lang was formerly senior business correspondent for CBC News, where she anchored The Exchange with Amanda Lang daily on CBC News Network. Prior to her work with CBC, she worked as a print journalist for Canadian national newspapers and was an anchor for CNNfn and BNN.

David Chilton is a Canadian born author, investor, and television personality from Waterloo, Ontario. He appeared on television in the Canadian version of Dragons' Den.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlene Dickinson</span> South African Canadian businesswoman (born 1956)

Arlene Dickinson is a South African Canadian businesswoman, investor, author, and television personality. She is the general partner of District Ventures Capital and CEO of Venturepark. Dickinson joined the cast of the CBC business reality show Dragons' Den during its second season in 2007 and departed in the ninth season in 2015. She then returned to continue with the Dragons for the 12th season in 2017. She was selected to perform on the series after she won numerous awards, including Calgary Business Owner of the Year, PROFIT magazine's Top 100 Women Business Owners, the Pinnacle Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards and Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100. The show describes her as a self-made multi-millionaire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daymond John</span> American businessman, investor, and television personality

Daymond Garfield John is an American businessman, investor, and television personality. He is best known as an investor on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. As well as being the founder, president, and chief executive officer of FUBU, John is the founder of The Shark Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Herjavec</span> Canadian businessman (born 1962)

Robert Herjavec is a Croatian-Canadian businessman, investor, and television personality.

<i>Shark Tank</i> American reality television series

Shark Tank is an American business reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on ABC. The show is the American franchise of the international format Dragons' Den, a British TV series, which itself is a remake of the Japanese TV show The Tigers of Money. It shows entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of five venture capitalists called "sharks" on the program, who decide whether to invest in their companies.

The Exchange was a Canadian business news television series which aired weekdays on CBC News Network, with an overnight rebroadcast on CBC Television, from October 26, 2009 to September 9, 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Jones (entrepreneur)</span> English billionaire businessman (born 1966)

Peter David Jones is an English entrepreneur, businessman, investor, and reality television personality, with interests in mobile phones, television, media, leisure, retail, publishing and property. He is the last remaining original investor on the BBC One series Dragons' Den, and has appeared on other television programmes with similar formats including Shark Tank in the United States.

<i>Dragons Den</i> (Canadian TV series) Canadian television reality show

Dragons' Den is a Canadian television reality show based on the internationally franchised Dragons' Den format which began in Japan. The show debuted on October 3, 2006, on CBC Television, and is hosted by Dianne Buckner. Aspiring Canadian entrepreneurs pitch business and investment ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing business financing and partnerships. The show also has a Quebec-only spin-off called Dans l'oeil du Dragon.

Redemption Inc. is a nine-part Canadian reality television game show hosted by business commentator Kevin O'Leary, broadcast on CBC, produced by Proper Television. The show stars 10 ex-cons, from cocaine dealers to fraud artists, in an elimination-style competition that results in the winner earning $100,000 of O'Leary's money to launch their own business.

BrandYourself is a US-based online reputation management company. It provides software and services to help businesses and individuals out-rank search results with new content and websites. It operates on a freemium model, in which certain tools and services are provided without charge, but also offers paid subscriptions and professional services.

Michael Wekerle is a Canadian merchant banker and television personality, best known for being an investor on the Canadian reality show Dragons' Den for three years first appearing in the ninth season.

<i>Shark Tank</i> (Australian TV series) Australian reality competition television series

Shark Tank is an Australian reality competition television series that premiered on 8 February 2015 and aired until 7 August 2018 on Network Ten, in which aspiring entrepreneur-contestants made business presentations to a panel of "Shark" investors. Shark Tank was filmed at Disney Studios Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election</span>

The Conservative Party of Canada held a leadership election on May 27, 2017. The leadership election was prompted by the resignation of Stephen Harper, who had led the Conservative Party of Canada as its leader from 2004, after the party's defeat in the 2015 election.

Bruce Croxon is a Canadian entrepreneur, television personality, and venture capitalist. Croxon is currently a partner at Round13 Capital and co-host of BNN's TV show, The Disruptors. Croxon co-founded the dating website Lavalife and joined the cast of CBC's Dragons' Den from 2011 to 2013.

Gil Oved is a South African entrepreneur who is the co-founder and co-CEO of The Creative Counsel, South Africa's largest advertising agency. He is a member of the global Young Presidents' Organization where he is the Johannesburg chapter chair as well as the Africa regional forum officer. He is one of the Dragons on the hugely popular television reality show Dragons' Den South Africa which premiered in the last quarter of 2014 on DSTV. In 2016 Oved was chosen as the first "Shark" on the new series of Shark Tank on M-NET.

Plated was an American ingredient-and-recipe meal kit service that has been acquired by Albertsons. The company was founded in 2012 and became well known through its participation in Techstars in 2013, Shark Tank in 2014 and Beyond the Tank in 2015. Plated's founders, Nick Taranto and Josh Hix, earned a deal on Shark Tank that fell through, but negotiated a deal with a different Shark Tank investor after the show was filmed. The company accepted several rounds of venture capital investments and remained private until it was acquired by Albertsons in September 2017.

References

  1. Daniela Cambone (May 9, 2012). "Kevin O'Leary's 'Cold, Hard, Truth' on Gold Investing". Forbes . Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Kevin O'Leary – from Dragon's Den to Redemption Inc". The Montrealer. February 2012.
  3. "Leading Canadian Entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary Named to Genstar Strategic Advisory Board". CNW. August 1, 2007. Archived from the original on October 2, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Kevin O'Leary: He's not a billionaire, he just plays one on TV". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. September 28, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Lagerquist, Jeff (February 4, 2017). "Kevin O'Leary proposes 'fast-track' to citizenship for skilled immigrants". CTV News.
  6. 1 2 "Kevin O'Leary makes late entry into Conservative leadership race". January 18, 2017.
  7. "Kevin O'Leary drops out of Canadian Conservative Party leadership race – RUTV News". May 28, 2023. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  8. 1 2 "Kevin O'Leary drops out of Conservative leadership race and will support rival Maxime Bernier". National Post . Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 O'Leary, Kevin (2011). Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life. Doubleday. ISBN   9780385671750 . Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  10. Jason McBride (August 24, 2016). "Operation O'Leary". Toronto Life.
  11. O'Leary, Kevin (2011). Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life. Doubleday. ISBN   9780385671750.
  12. 1 2 Allemang, John. "Kevin O'Leary: The shark who swims alone", The Globe and Mail , 23 September 2011.
  13. Schlesinger, Joel. "The dragon's pen: Reality TV villain writes about life and money in new autobiography", Winnipeg FreePress, 1 October 2011.
  14. "O'Leary spent almost all of the 1st week of his campaign in the U.S."
  15. "Kevin O'Leary: Dyslexia is a 'competitive weapon' in the workplace". au.finance.yahoo.com. June 24, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  16. Jacobson, Brianna (April 7, 2018). "Kevin O'Leary sheds a tear and opens up about his rise to millions". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  17. 1 2 "Kevin O'Leary – from Dragon's Den to Redemption Inc". The Montrealer. February 1, 2012. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  18. "Georgette Kanawaty's Obituary on Ottawa Citizen". Ottawa Citizen.
  19. 1 2 Jane MacDougall (January 21, 2013). "Dragons' Den star Kevin O'Leary has another passion—photography". Maclean's.
  20. "Shark Tank : Week 19: LuminAID, Taaluma Totes, Keen Home, Scholly - Season 6 Episode 19 Recap". ABC.
  21. Percelay, Bruce A. (November 20, 2021). "It's a Wonderful Life". N Magazine.
  22. "Breakaway - Kevin O'Leary and his Townships past". cbc.ca. September 3, 2014.
  23. 1 2 3 Laura Rosenfeld (March 13, 2015). "Who Is Kevin O'Leary's Wife? Linda Is Mrs. Wonderful & Totally Lives Up to the Name". Bustle. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  24. 1 2 3 "T. Kevin O'Leary". uwo.ca. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  25. 1 2 3 4 "The Kevin O'Leary machine". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. September 6, 2012.
  26. "Kevin O'Leary's best advice from his 20s". Business Insider. July 28, 2015.
  27. O'Leary, Kevin. (2012) Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women & Money. Doubleday Canada, page 106
  28. 1 2 "Kevin T. O'Leary". Bloomberg. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  29. 1 2 "T. Kevin O'Leary". Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  30. "Be Like a Magpie". The Huffington Post . April 19, 2015.
  31. "The secret of Softkey's success". Strategy Online. November 16, 1992. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  32. "Kevin O'Leary on leaving the CBC, learning from Don Cherry and befriending Dragons". Toronto Life. Archived from the original on August 4, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  33. 1 2 Ellen Ashton-Haiste (August 24, 2013). "The Real Kevin O'Leary". Forever Young Information. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  34. "Shark Tank - Latest News - From cameraman to Mr. Wonderful: Kevin O'Leary on where he started and what's coming up on 'Shark Tank'". CTV.ca. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014.
  35. "Kevin O'Leary, TV's 'Shark Tank' Guru: In Real Life, No Business Whiz". Time. September 10, 2009.
  36. 1 2 3 Steve Burgess. "Kevin O'Leary". NUVO Magazine.
  37. "'Shark Tank' investor Kevin O'Leary explains how a $10,000 loan from his mother helped him build a $4 billion company". businessinsider.com. April 17, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  38. Willett, Shawn (May 24, 1993). "Merger is first step to a consumer orientation for WordStar". InfoWorld. p. 31. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  39. Bergin, Thomas J. (October–December 2006). "Word Processing Timeline". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  40. "Softkey Reaches Agreement to Buy Learning Company". The New York Times . December 8, 1995. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  41. 1 2 Joe Castaldo. "Kevin O'Leary: The natural". Canadian Business.
  42. Cave, Andrew. "Mattel sale ends $3.6bn fiasco" . Telegraph.co.uk . Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  43. Gandel, Stephen (September 10, 2009). "TV's Shark Tank Guru: In Real Life, No Business Whiz". Time. ISSN   0040-781X . Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  44. Dunfield, Allison (May 5, 2008). "Reza Satchu, 38". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  45. 1 2 "A history of Kevin O'Leary's spotty business record, in four deals". Canadian Business. January 19, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  46. "Leading Canadian Entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary Named to Genstar Strategic Advisory Board". PNR. August 1, 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  47. Oysey, Dan (May 1, 2012). "Kevin O'Leary and Connor O'Brien use celebrity branding to take on Canada's fund managers". Financial Post. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  48. "Kevin O'Leary's business history back in spotlight after entering race for Conservative Party leader". Financial Post. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  49. "Gestion de fonds O'Leary to pay $38,000 in administrative penalties". lautorite.qc.ca. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  50. Cain, Terry (October 15, 2015). "Dragons reunite as Canoe picks up Kevin O'Leary's fund shop". Business News Network. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  51. "About O'Leary Ventures". O'Leary Ventures. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  52. "O'Leary Wines". Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  53. "O'Leary Fine Wines Wins "Best Value" at InterVin International Wine Awards". October 3, 2012. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  54. McLister, Rob. "O'Leary Mortgages Is No More". CanadianMortgageTrends.com. 10 April 2014 [ unreliable source? ]
  55. Castaldo, Joe (April 10, 2017). "Inside Kevin O'Leary's investing fund misadventure". Maclean's . Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  56. 1 2 Nelson Smith (April 28, 2016). "Steal These 4 Investing Tips from Kevin O'Leary". Motley Fool.
  57. Smith, Nelson (April 16, 2016). "Collect $1,000 per month by investing like Kevin O'Leary".
  58. "Kevin O'Leary's 'Cold, Hard, Truth' on Gold Investing". Forbes. November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  59. "Three investment tips from a dragon". Ontario Farmer. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  60. "Kevin O'Leary on Dividend Investing". Spiked Finance. May 3, 2014. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  61. O'Leary, Kevin. Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women, and Money. Simon and Schuster.
  62. Padanyi, Matt (December 18, 2015). "Kevin O'Leary tells a young investor how to turn $10,000 in a nest egg". BNN. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  63. Fox, Michelle (May 14, 2019). "'Mr. Wonderful' Kevin O'Leary calls bitcoin 'garbage' in a takedown of the whole cryptocurrency industry Bitbuy". CNBC.
  64. Pompliano, Anthony (May 24, 2021). "Kevin O'Leary's Bitcoin and Defi Strategy Bitbuy". The POMP PODCAST.
  65. Ltd., FTX Trading (August 10, 2021). "FTX and Kevin O'Leary Announce Long-Term Investment and Spokesperson Relationship Bitbuy". PR Newswire.
  66. Zeitchik, Steven; Mark, Julian (December 14, 2022). "Tom Brady pushed crypto to his fans. This lawyer wants him to pay up". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  67. Anderson, Travis (November 16, 2022). "Tom Brady, David Ortiz among athletes sued over crypto losses in federal lawsuit filed by investor". The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  68. Goswami, Rohan (December 16, 2022). "Former FTX spokesman Kevin O'Leary defends endorsement of Bankman-Fried's crypto firm". CNBC. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  69. Lawler, Richard (February 18, 2022). "Influencers beware: promoting the wrong crypto could mean facing a class-action lawsuit". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  70. Olinga, Luc (December 14, 2022). "Shark Tank Kevin O'Leary Says Rival Binance "Put FTX Out of Business"". TheStreet. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  71. "Kevin O'Leary Sparks a Battle of Cat vs. DOGE While Promoting Little-Known Pawthereum Crypto". InvestorPlace. November 15, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  72. "Kevin O'Leary: The shark who swims alone". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  73. "Order your copy of Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women & Money". Doubleday Canada . Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  74. "Cold Hard Truth on Family, Kids and Money". Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  75. Henderson, J. Maureen (January 20, 2017). "Why Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary Is Not The Next Donald Trump". Forbes.
  76. Bambury, Brent (January 6, 2017). "Meet the man who helped Kevin O'Leary shape his powerful personal brand". CBC Radio.
  77. "Full 2014–15 Series Rankings". Deadline Hollywood. May 22, 2015. Archived from the original on May 23, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  78. "Shark Tank – Awards & Nominations". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences . Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  79. 1 2 3 Malamut, Melissa (October 10, 2013). "Q&A: Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary". Boston Magazine. Archived from the original on January 26, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  80. Vivian Giang (November 25, 2013). "What It's Like Working With the Meanest Investor on "Shark Tank"". Business Insider. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  81. "Kevin O'leary Mr Wonderful from his Audition tape for CA Dragons Den". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 7, 2021.
  82. 1 2 Ho, Ky Trang (April 10, 2016). "Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary: How Debt And Licensing Deals Can Benefit Entrepreneurs More". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016.
  83. Shropshire, Corilyn (February 21, 2012). "Jamba Juice buys Talbott Teas". Chicago Tribune.
  84. Perez, Sarah (November 17, 2014). "Shark Tank-Backed GrooveBook Acquired By Shutterfly For $14.5 Million". TechCrunch.
  85. "Discovery". Discovery. Archived from the original on August 7, 2012.
  86. Colin Dodds (August 12, 2014). "Kevin O'Leary: Success Story". Toronto Star.
  87. James Crugnale (12 October 2011). "Journalist Chris Hedges Argues With CBC's Kevin O'Leary: 'This Sounds Like Fox News And I Don't Go On Fox News!'", Mediaite; retrieved 24 January 2014.
  88. Szklarski, Cassandra. "O'Leary's 'nutbar' remark breach of policy, CBC ombudsman says." Globe & Mail, 14 October 2011; retrieved 23 March 2012.
  89. "Kevin O'Leary Goes Off On Thomas Piketty, And It's Embarrassing (VIDEO)". The Huffington Post. May 5, 2014.
  90. Kludt, Tom (22 January 2014). Businessman, TV Host: It's 'Fantastic' That 85 People Have More Wealth Than Billions In Poverty (VIDEO). Talking Points Memo ; retrieved 22 January 2014.
  91. Hulsman, Noel (22 January 2014). "Kevin O'Leary thinks global wealth gap is 'fantastic news'", Yahoo News; retrieved 31 January 2014.
  92. Esther Enkin (March 6, 2014). "O'Leary's hyperbole". CBC Radio Canada.
  93. "Kevin O'Leary, Bruce Croxon leaving CBC's Dragon's Den". CBC.ca. March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  94. "Former 'Dragon' Kevin O'Leary leaves CBC to join CTV". Toronto Star. August 12, 2014. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  95. Daro, Ishmael N. (May 13, 2015). "Kevin O'Leary did not do very well on Celebrity Jeopardy!". National Post. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  96. Field, Sarah (September 13, 2015). "How Miss America Judges Can Impress Judge Kevin O'Leary". Inquisitr.com. The Inquisitr. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  97. "Ask Mr. Wonderful". December 31, 2018.
  98. "Ask Mr. Wonderful #1 > Kevin O'Leary answers your business question". YouTube. June 27, 2019. Archived from the original on November 7, 2021.
  99. Teproff, Carli (May 26, 2021). "What happens when 2 Miami lawyers join 'Mr. Wonderful' on a new TV show? We'll see soon". Miami Herald. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  100. FRANCOIS MARCHAND. "Put your head on my (virtual) shoulder: Paul Anka sings past classics while embracing the future in hologram technology". www.vancouversun.com.
  101. "Kevin O'Leary circling as key Conservatives test Tory leadership waters". CBC News . January 14, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  102. "Potential Tory leadership candidates test waters at weekend conference". CTVNews. February 27, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  103. "5 auditions to lead the post-Harper Conservatives". cbc.ca. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  104. Naumetz, Tim (February 26, 2016). "Leary shakes up Manning conference, predicts economic collapse, Liberal turmoil". hilltimes.com. The Hill Times. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  105. "Will he or won't he? The Conservatives' Kevin O'Leary factor". Macleans.ca. May 26, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  106. ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Nouvelles (February 27, 2016). ""Un touriste!: "Maxime Bernier s'en prend à l'ex-dragon Kevin O'Leary"". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  107. "Maxime Bernier slams English-only Kevin O'Leary". Toronto Sun. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  108. "Kevin O'Leary may speak jobs, but it's French that Quebecers want to hear from next Tory leader, says Bernier". Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  109. "O'Leary shows off his French lessons, promises proficiency by 2019" . Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  110. Slaughter, Graham (January 18, 2017). "Kevin O'Leary is 'self-interested' says former co-star Arlene Dickinson". CTV News. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  111. Bell, David (January 23, 2017). "Brett Wilson endorses Kevin O'Leary after Arlene Dickinson's scathing column". CBC. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  112. Cullen, Catherine (February 2, 2017). "Kevin O'Leary pulls gun range video 'out of respect' for shooting victims' funeral". CBC. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  113. Canadian Press (February 2, 2017). "O'Leary gun video posted on day of Mosque funeral 'insensitive:' public safety minister". Toronto Star. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  114. "'I'm going to be his worst nightmare': 'Shark Tank' judge Kevin O'Leary is running to lead the Conservative Party in Canada". Business Insider.
  115. 1 2 "Kevin O'Leary promises to scrap the carbon tax if elected prime minister".
  116. "Kevin O'Leary on why he's running for the Tory leadership". Maclean's.
  117. 1 2 "Bank mergers, housing and marijuana: Kevin O'Leary on his leadership bid".
  118. Simmons, Rashad (March 3, 2023). "Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary blasts Ocasio-Cortez: 'She kills jobs by the thousands'". The Hill. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  119. Pan, Jing (September 3, 2024). "'Who dreams this crap up?': Kevin O'Leary slams new rule that allows employees to ignore their bosses after hours". Yahoo Finance . Moneywise. Archived from the original on September 5, 2024. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  120. "Kevin O'Leary: 'If I don't deliver a majority mandate in 2019, fire me'".
  121. O'Leary, Kevin (September 14, 2016). "It's Time to End Canada's Pipeline Circus". The Huffington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  122. 1 2 3 "Kevin O'Leary enters Conservative leadership race: 'I'm in'".
  123. "Kevin O'Leary is way too boring to be called Canada's Donald Trump".
  124. "Kevin O'Leary supports ending airstrikes against ISIS".
  125. "Kevin O'Leary on Russia". Twitter . Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  126. "Kevin O'Leary explains his vision for Canada, says he's 'coming' for PM Trudeau".
  127. "Kevin O'Leary says refugees exploiting an immigration 'loophole'". Toronto Sun . March 6, 2017.
  128. Kevin O'Leary [@kevinolearytv] (March 7, 2017). "#2. Increase border security to halt the flow of illegals into Canada & work w/ US border security to better understand our deficiencies" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  129. Kevin O'Leary [@kevinolearytv] (March 7, 2017). "Illegal immigration compromises Canada's security & is a slap in the face to families who are waiting to move to our country legitimately" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  130. Dehaas, Josh (January 15, 2017). "Senate seats for sale? O'Leary says he'd consider it". CTV. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  131. 1 2 Tasker, John Paul; Kapelos, Vassy (November 14, 2018). "Kevin O'Leary suing Elections Canada over fundraising limits". CBC News . Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  132. Twitter
  133. "Kevin O'Leary". NUVO. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  134. John Allemang. "Kevin O'Leary: The shark who swims alone". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  135. "Kevin O'Leary: Shark, Dragon, Dad". Inbetween Magazine. Archived from the original on April 13, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  136. Evans, Bryan (September 22, 2016). "Inside Kevin O'Leary's unconventional wealth-building habits" . Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  137. "Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful". Twitter. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  138. Jason McBride (August 24, 2016). "Kevin O'Leary is a blowhard, a relentless self-promoter". Toronto Life.
  139. Alex Boutilier (January 18, 2017). "Transcript: O'Leary on his bid for Conservative leadership". The Toronto Star.
  140. "Where is home? Kevin O'Leary who's called Boston 'home' says his priority is Canada". Global News. January 15, 2016.
  141. "Kevin O'Leary explains why he just bought more Meta Platforms". YouTube. February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  142. Grundhauser, Eric (February 9, 2016). "A Look At Mr. Wonderful's Secret Society for Wine Snobs". Atlas Obscura.
  143. Kuitenbrouwer, Peter (January 2, 2015). "Tycoon Kevin O'Leary says when it comes to photography, he is "a starving artist, hold the starving"". National Post.
  144. Karger, Craig (January 4, 2022). "Kevin O'Leary's Watch Collection". Wrist Enthusiast.
  145. "'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary's wife found not guilty in 2019 boat crash that killed two'". USAToday. September 14, 2021.
  146. "Kevin O'Leary confirms he was passenger in boat involved in double-fatal crash".
  147. Wilson, Codi (August 29, 2019). "Man killed in boat crash involving Kevin O'Leary was 'fun-loving' father of 2, his brother says". CP24.com.
  148. "Kevin O'Leary's wife charged in fatal Ontario boat crash". ctvnews.ca. September 24, 2019.
  149. "Linda O'Leary not facing jail time for charge in fatal boat crash". toronto.ctvnews.ca. October 11, 2019.
  150. "Linda O'Leary found not guilty in fatal boat crash". cbc.ca. September 14, 2021.