{"id":442687,"date":"2021-02-05T04:17:33","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T09:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/?p=442687"},"modified":"2020-12-26T09:42:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T14:42:27","slug":"how-did-kevin-oleary-make-his-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/investing\/how-did-kevin-oleary-make-his-money","title":{"rendered":"How Did Kevin O\u2019Leary Make His Money?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Terence Thomas Kevin O\u2019Leary is one of the most well-known investors to come out of Canada. He\u2019s a prolific media personality whose face is all over financial news. He\u2019s also a 66-year-old man with a burgeoning YouTube channel.<\/p>\n<p>Known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bustle.com\/articles\/48708-why-is-kevin-oleary-called-mr-wonderful-on-shark-tank-there-are-a-few-explanations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mr. Wonderful<\/a>, you can find O\u2019Leary playing the heel in both the Canadian and U.S. versions of <em>Shark Tank<\/em> (known as <em>Dragon\u2019s Den<\/em> in Canada).<\/p>\n<p>So, how did Kevin O\u2019Leary make his money?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The 3 BEST HABITS Of Rich People | Shark Tank&#039;s Kevin O&#039;Leary\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b5vLhxbVKpM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>His investment style is familiar to anyone who watches the show. O\u2019Leary loves making licensing deals, and he has a team of lawyers that can enforce any patents or other legal contracts.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Leary is a wine connoisseur, author, and mutual fund manager. He\u2019s also brash and resembles <em>The Simpsons<\/em> character Montgomery Burns in his perspective on money. Having been both rich and poor, he\u2019ll tell you being rich is better.<\/p>\n<p>How did O\u2019Leary got so filthy rich?<\/p>\n<h2>How Kevin O\u2019Leary Got Started<\/h2>\n<p>O\u2019Leary was born and raised in Canada, and his father died when he was only 7 years old. He originally wanted to be a photographer but followed his parents\u2019 lead to become a businessmen and investor.<strong> His first notable job was as the assistant brand manager for Nabisco\u2019s cat food brand in Toronto.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After a short stint as a television producer, he started <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inc.com\/emily-canal\/shark-tank-kevin-oleary-mr-wonderful-tough-advice.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Softkey<\/a>. <strong>The company filled retail shelves with mostly shareware compilations but made enough money to acquire The Learning Company for $606 million in 1995 and took its name.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>TLC also spent $416 million on rival Broderbund before being <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/efa66b5a2789ffa665eeaa37b6e01a76\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">acquired itself by Mattel for $4.2 billion<\/a> in 1999. This acquisition lost Mattel $3 billion in shareholder value within a single day, prompting a class-action lawsuit that was settled for $122 million in 2003.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/financhill.com\/widget\/charts\/MAT\" width=\"720\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This would be considered the biggest business blunder from the <em>Shark Tank<\/em> cast if not for Yahoo!\u2019s disastrous $5.7 billion acquisition of Mark Cuban\u2019s Broadcast.com. Of course, both men profited through billion-dollar exits from what turned out to be failed tech companies during the height of the dotcom bubble.<\/p>\n<h2>How Did Kevin O\u2019Leary Make His Money?<\/h2>\n<p>O\u2019Leary\u2019s fortune isn\u2019t as easy to pin down as it is for many other notable wealthy people. This is because he\u2019s an investing wizard who made money from a variety of sources. <strong>Although he sold TLC to Mattel for $4.2 billion, he only reportedly netted about $11.2 million from the deal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The company was buried in over $1 billion of accumulated debt by the time Mattel took over.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When he left, he invested $500,000 of his payout in StorageNow Holdings, which he later sold for over $4.5 million. From there, he joined Genstar Capital and created <a href=\"https:\/\/oshares.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">O\u2019Leary Funds<\/a><\/strong>.<strong> He grew the fund from $400 million in assets under management in 2011 to over $4 billion by 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/financhill.com\/widget\/charts\/OUSA\" width=\"720\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He has stakes in a variety of businesses, many of these deals done through the Canadian and American TV shows. He\u2019s a paid media personality, something he really enjoys, and his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/KevinOLearyDotCom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a> channel has over 300k subscribers and 17 million views. All of this generates revenue.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Altogether, Kevin O\u2019Leary\u2019s net worth is estimated at $400 million in 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Is Kevin O\u2019Leary a Billionaire?<\/h2>\n<p>Unlike Cuban, Kevin O\u2019Leary is not a billionaire. He does manage billions of dollars of assets through his funds, and he did create and sell a billion-dollar company to Mattel though.<\/p>\n<p><strong>His net worth of $400 million makes him the second-richest shark beneath Cuban<\/strong>. He\u2019s also the second wealthiest dragon on Canada\u2019s version of the show, behind only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jimtreliving.net\/otherventures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Boston Pizza franchising guru Jim Treliving<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to note O\u2019Leary isn\u2019t himself a billionaire, because he often makes the distinction on TV. When competing with offers from other sharks, he loves to point out that&nbsp;he\u2019s the only one (so long as Cuban isn\u2019t on the show) who made a billion-dollar exit from his company. He fails to mention he\u2019s still only a millionaire.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps O\u2019Leary could use a bottle of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/ginapace\/2019\/11\/29\/diageo-launches-real-tequila-tres-comas-based-on-silicon-valley-joke\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tres Comas tequila<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>How Is Kevin O\u2019Leary So Rich?<\/h2>\n<p>Although not a billionaire, O\u2019Leary is undeniably wealthy. He made some of this money by building his billion-dollar software company, and he grew it from there. <strong>His mom taught him to invest a third of his earnings, and he had a lot of high-earning jobs.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Inevitably, his investment skills made him rich.<\/p>\n<p>While he often owns equity, he\u2019s known for pushing licensing deals. He loves making deals that put residual cash in his pocket, and he\u2019s a known number cruncher.<strong> He learned his investment skills and financial discipline from his mom and his business savvy from his dad.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By diversifying his portfolio, he remains safe from most market events. He\u2019s also a marketing powerhouse who uses his media reach to promote his portfolio of companies.<\/p>\n<h2>What Companies Does Kevin O\u2019Leary Own?<\/h2>\n<p>O\u2019Leary\u2019s goal is to spend money to make money. <strong>He prefers residual earnings and wants licensing or high-interest loans over equity deals.<\/strong> As he discusses on his shows, he doesn\u2019t want to work \u2013 he wants his money to work for him.<\/p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/07\/21\/shark-tanks-kevin-oleary-dc-must-end-coronavirus-business-stimulus.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Shark Tank<\/em><\/a> alone, he invested $8.54 million in 40 deals. His show portfolio includes companies like Zipz, Honeyfund, Lovepop, First Defense Nasal Screen, and Total Merchant Resources.<\/p>\n<p>He also invested in MacKenzie and Marr Guitars, Dig it Gloves, Last Call, and Vineland Estate Wines through <em>Dragons Den<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Leary started O\u2019Leary Ventures to manage his diverse portfolio of startups. <strong>He also owns O\u2019Leary Funds, which manages wealth for others. And he launched an ETF through O\u2019Shares Investments.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These investments keep money in O\u2019Leary\u2019s pocket, along with the inheritance he received from his parents after their deaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Terence Thomas Kevin O\u2019Leary is one of the most well-known investors to come out of Canada. He\u2019s a prolific media personality whose face is all over financial news. He\u2019s also a 66-year-old man with a burgeoning YouTube channel. Known as Mr. Wonderful, you can find O\u2019Leary playing the heel in both the Canadian and U.S. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-442687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/how-did-kevin-oleary-make-his-money.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9czeV-1Ra7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442687"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442694,"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442687\/revisions\/442694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financhill.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}