KEVIN O’LEARY, aka Mr Wonderful, has been a household business name for years, and made the move into the crypto world when he partnered with FTX in 2021.
But what is the story behind Kevin O’Leary’s success, and what is his net worth?
Who is Kevin O’Leary?
Kevin O’Leary was born on July 9, 1954 in Montreal, Canada.
He credits his parents for what would go on to be a successful career in business, with his official website stating: “The combination of Kevin’s mother’s family heritage as merchants and his father’s Irish charisma truly meant that O’Leary was born for business.”
After his father died while he was still young, O’Leary was raised by his mother and stepfather, spending time in the US and Cambodia.
During that time, the future millionaire “learned most of his business intuition from his mother”.
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“She taught him key business and financial insights from an early age,” according to his website.
“These became Kevin’s core philosophies and the pillars upon which he would one day build his empire.”
O’Leary read environmental studies at the University of Waterloo, graduating in 1977, before then gaining an MBA from the University of Western Ontario in 1980.
In 1983, O’Leary co-founded a company called SoftKey Software Products. The company specialised in acquiring educational software that went on to be distributed to home computers via CDs.
In 1995, SoftKey acquired The Learning Company and took its name. O’Leary sold his firm ahead of the turn of the millennium in 1999 to Mattel for $4.2billion.
The purchase by Mattel went on to be dubbed one of the Worst Deals of All Time”.
O’Leary first became a well known name to ordinary punters in 2006 when he took on a role as a panellist on Canada’s Dragons’ Den. The show sees entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to the successful business people in the hope they will invest their money for a share of the company.
He then took on a similar role for the US version of the same show, called Shark Tank.
Why is Kevin O’Leary called Mr Wonderful?
Kevin O’Leary first picked up the nickname while on Shark Tank.
Explaining the reasoning behind the name to Boston magazine, he said: “In season one, someone was trying to sell a publishing deal to us for music and I proposed an aggressive 51 percent equity position because I wanted control of the business.
“And Barbara [Corcoran] said, ‘Well aren’t you Mr. Wonderful?’ and I said, ‘You know what Barbara, I am!'”
Kevin O’Leary on his partnership with FTX
Kevin O’Leary was paid by FTX to promote the now-defunct crypto exchange when he became an ambassador for the firm in August 2021.
As a high-profile individual for his financial and business success, he was used to help convince ordinary punters to put their money into the firm.
He was paid around $15million for the deal. But after tax, agency fees, a $1million investment in FTX itself, and $10million in crypto now stuck on the exchange, O’Leary made no return on his promotion partnership.
In December 2022, O’Leary defended his partnership, and accused rival exchange Binance of deliberately causing FTX to collapse.
He said: “I have an opinion, not the records. One put the other out of business—intentionally.”
The businessman added in written testimony: “We need to get to the bottom of what happened at FTX, but we can’t let its collapse cause us to abandon the great promise and potential of crypto.”
What is Kevin O’Leary’s net worth?
Kevin O’Leary’s net worth is estimated at about $400million.
His sale of The Learning Company for $4.2billion helped build the majority of his worth.
He then invested the money he made from the profit of The Learning Company sale in stocks and shares, boosting how much money he had to his current net worth.
Cryptocurrency is thought to make up approximately 20 per cent of O’Leary’s investments.
In April 2023, O’Leary said that Bitcoin had given him the biggest return so far this year, followed by Polygon and Matic.