Kevin O’Leary

Who is Kevin O’Leary?

Kevin O’Leary is a Canadian businessman, financier, and television personality, perhaps best known as a panelist on the reality shows Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank.

Terence Thomas Kevin O’Leary was born on July 9, 1954, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a Canadian businessman, financier, and television personality.

O’Leary is the son of Georgette (née Bukalam), a small business owner and investor, and Terry O’Leary, a salesman. His father was Irish and his mother was of Lebanese descent. Due to his parents’ work, O’Leary also spent much of his youth in Syria, Tunisia, and Cyprus (the latter he has described as a “war zone”). He studied at Stanstead College, in Stanstead, Quebec (Canada); at St. George’s School (Quebec City), in Quebec, and at Quebec High School. In 1972 he went to University College Dublin in Ireland (UCD) to study history. However, after two years at UCD, O’Leary transferred to the University of Waterloo, Canada, where he graduated with honors in environmental studies and psychology in 1977.

First Investments

O’Leary was born in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) and grew up there. After earning a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Waterloo in 1977, he pursued a master’s degree at the University of Western Ontario (now known as Western University) in London, Ontario. In 1980 he joined with two partners to form Special Event Television, a company that produced sports programs. As a producer, he worked for the flamboyant Canadian hockey announcer Don Cherry.

O’Leary co-founded the software company SoftKey, which he later renamed The Learning Company. He also became a television personality on shows like Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den and hosted Redemption Inc.

In 1983, O’Leary co-founded a company called SoftKey Software Products, Inc. in Toronto. SoftKey acquired many educational software producers, and during the early 1990s, it had a reputation as one of the fastest-growing companies in Canada. In 1995 he reached an agreement to buy the Californian company Learning Company; SoftKey then changed its name to Learning Company. 

Importance of Kevin O’Leary for crypto

He has been investing in cryptocurrencies for years. He describes himself as a long-term owner and believes in the technology’s long-term potential. His role in the crypto world is very important, especially because of his role as a promoter, based on his fame and media impact, especially since his participation in the reality show Shark Tank. Being a person recognized throughout the world, and also recognized as an investor, everything he says and his opinions are highly listened to and respected.  

For Kevin O’Leary, cryptocurrencies are not just another asset class. It is the 12th sector in the S&P 500 stock index. In fact, as he puts it, “the smartest hands are now in crypto.” Venture capitalists and regulars have poured “billions of dollars” into cryptocurrencies in the past two years and continue to do so.

O’Leary’s view is that the true potential of cryptocurrencies lies not with individual investors, but with institutional ones. He sees it as a sub-sector of the larger economy and said that “the true potential of cryptocurrencies is not just of the individual, but of institutional capital. You have to attract him.”

And that’s what makes O’Leary one of the most successful investors today: his ability to focus on the game for the long haul. While others worry about short-term trends and immediate gains, O’Leary understands that to be successful in any industry, you have to focus on the future, not the present.

Last year, Kevin O’Leary made big moves in the cryptocurrency market. He started investing in startups, staking his stablecoins, and distributing them in 32 different cryptocurrencies. He told CoinDesk TV that he owns “multiple stocks, multiple tokens, multiple coins, multiple blockchains. I have a lot of them.” O’Leary is not the only investor to make a splash in the cryptocurrency market in the past year. Many investors with public profiles made big moves during the biggest rally to date.

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, O’Leary is a proponent of diversification. He says that his current largest holding is ETH, the native currency of the Ethereum network and that he has also bought BTC, SOL, MATIC, and 28 other coins. Likewise, seeing cryptocurrency exchanges as potentially lucrative, he sees a world where both decentralized and centralized exchanges can win.

Tweets

Phrases

“I’m sitting on my crypto wallet,” he said. “Crypto is like gold; You buy it because you think it’s going to outperform paper assets.”

“It pains me to see good entrepreneurs chase bad opportunities.” …

“Whatever you pay attention to grows!” …

“I like to take risks. …

“Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas.” …

“I’ve probably heard more than 10,000 pitches … and truth be told, most of them sucked.”