Kevin O’Leary is a famend businessman, investor, and tv persona. He rose to fame as a principal forged member on CBC’s Dragons’ Den and ABC’s Shark Tank. O’Leary’s hottest enterprise enterprise is founding SoftKey. As of 2024, Kevin O’Leary has a web value of $400 million. This makes him the second richest forged member on Shark Tank with billionaire Mark Cuban topping the checklist.
Early Life
Terence Thomas Kevin O’Leary was born on July 9, 1954 and is certainly one of two sons of Georgette and Terry O’Leary. His birthplace is Quebec, Canada, and he was raised by entrepreneurial mother and father however they divorced when he was a toddler.
After Kevin’s organic father died from alcoholism, his mom labored as a small enterprise government. Georgette later tied the knot with a United Nations worker, which let their household journey the world. Around this time, Georgette was quietly build up an funding portfolio.
He by no means revealed it till he was studying her will when she handed away. And by means of this, younger Kevin discovered in regards to the significance of investing for the long run. Mr. Wonderful additionally studied psychology and environmental research on the University of Waterloo and acquired an MBA from the Ivey Business School.
Business Career
O’Leary had an internship at Nabisco and served as an assistant model supervisor for the company’s cat meals line whereas pursuing an MBA in 1979. After this, he had a brief stint co-founding Special Event Television (SET).
He offered his fairness in SET and began a software program firm in 1986. He referred to as it SoftKey Software Products they usually offered edutainment software program when the market was at its peak. The agency additionally grew to become identified for its hostile takeovers of rival corporations.
They acquired a enterprise referred to as The Learning Company and took on its title in 1995. Four years later, Kevin offered the software program enterprise to the toy company Mattel for $4.2 billion. Similar to Mark Cuban, he offered a tech firm earlier than the tech bubble burst. The deal was a catastrophe for Mattel and Businessweek labeled it “one of the worst deals of all time”.
Further Ventures
The entrepreneur made his TV debut in 2006 as one of many buyers within the Canadian model of Dragons’ Den. Kevin stayed for eight seasons however jumped ship in 2009 with Robert Herjavec to affix ABC’s Shark Tank. The transfer was a sensible one as Shark Tank’s viewers is a lot bigger.
On the present, Mr. Wonderful has invested in lots of early startups with combined success. The most profitable ones embrace Certifikid, BenjiLock, Honeyfund, Basepaws, Geek My Tree, Potato Parcel, Rareform, Wicked Good Cupcakes, SnarkTea, Waivecar, Boost Oxygen, Deskview, and LovePop.
He revealed his first e-book, Cold Hard Truth, in 2011. The widespread investor additionally branched out into politics. He campaigned for the Conservative Party of Canada’s chairmanship in 2017 however finally dropped out of the race.
Net Worth and Salary
It is reported that Kevin O’Leary makes $50,000 per episode on Shark Tank. However, it is affordable to say that he earns extra investing in corporations featured within the present. The wage alone from the present funds a number of the offers.
Outside of angel investing, Kevin is an even bigger advocate for cryptocurrencies. O’Leary has revealed that his portfolio consists of round 32 crypto tokens, together with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon and Solana. Currently, he has 20% of his portfolio invested in crypto together with tokens and enterprise capital offers. His web value presently stands at $400 million.
Personal Life
Kevin is married with two youngsters to his spouse, Linda. They stay in a Toronto mansion that homes O’Leary’s classic Porsche and Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. The TV persona is additionally infamous for his watch assortment, which incorporates timepieces from Rolex, Luminor, Jacob & Co., and different luxurious manufacturers.
