Dear Kevin:
I’ve followed you for some time now. I can remember your early days on the old ROBTV (now BNN) during the early morning show back in circa like 2002. Since I worked nights back then, I was often up when you were on. You were the “investor at large”, a no holds barred, brash guy working hard on investing your newfound capital from Mattel giving you a ridiculous amount for selling The Learning Company. We were perfect for each other.
I always enjoyed what you had to say. You prided yourself on standing up for the little guy. The very first time I ever heard of an ETF was when you told me about it. I immediately fell in love with the concept. I hated the evil mutual fund managers as much as you did. Sure, ETFs were just new back then, but we both saw the potential. I went out and bought EWJ, a play on the turnaround on Japan. That turnaround didn’t really come, but let’s not talk about that.
I followed you to Squeeze Play, the program basically created to give you primetime exposure. I drank up every minute of it. I especially enjoyed your opinions about the day’s top stories and when you answered questions sent in via email from the viewers. You maintained your distaste of mutual funds. In fact, I specifically remember a debate between you and a fund manager where you pretty much trounced him.
That’s when it all started to fall apart.
Soon I began to realize that you basically have three talking points. I get it, you hate the government and taxation of basically any form. You also really, really like emerging markets and getting yield on your investments. It also got to the point where I was ready to slit my wrists if you said “pay daddy” one more time. Much like a jilted spouse who witnesses a change in their partner, I stayed with you. I remembered how things used to be, I thought maybe we could go back to those good times. How naive I was.
I can’t remember the exact moment I found out you started a mutual fund. Perhaps I didn’t want to believe it. I asked myself, how could Kevin O’Leary, the very man who introduced me to the evils of mutual fund management fees, be leading me astray? Didn’t he realize the hypocrisy of the whole situation? Was he hoping no one would remember?
In the meantime, you joined the cast of CBC’s Dragon’s Den. I was so excited about the concept of the show I didn’t realize how foolish it made you look to go star in a program shown by a broadcaster owned by the Canadian government. Perhaps I was still living in denial.
Finally, you completed the move to the dark side, taking lovely Amanda Lang with you. While watching you isn’t a nightly ritual like it used to be, I still catch your program on occasion. And Kevin, I’ve got some bad news for you. It’s over between us.
You say the same things over and over again. You ask interview questions that do nothing but advance your own agenda. You push the philosophy of your funds every chance you get. It’s clear that Amanda Lang can barely stand you anymore. I get it, you like dividends. You don’t need to remind me every single time you and Amanda talk about a stock that, GASP!, doesn’t pay one.
So Kevin, thanks for the memories. From now on, you’ll be nothing but entertainment for me. I’d encourage all investors to take the same approach.
[...] Bell- I used to watch Squeeze Play for Kevin O’Leary. (And the lovely Amanda Lang) When Kevin left, I thought I was done with Squeeze Play forever. Yet [...]
[...] don’t think I’m anti-dividend. Like my other pal Kevin O’Leary, I enjoy when companies “pay daddy”. Dividends are the nice payments you receive while [...]
Kevin,
Realizing that you have no regard for the government, you commented last Thursday that government pensions should be removed, because (hear the fiddle playing) you made your fortune in free enterprise, and now part of your taxes go to pay the pensions. Civil servants negotiate their contracts,Kevin, and the pension is part of that contract. while you 'free enterprise' guys are raking in the dough, taking luxury cruises, and buying expensive cars, (not to mention bragging about your wealth), civil servants accept much less pay and a reasonable pension. No, they don't get lucrative contracts on 'Dragon's Den', or get hired by the CBC…but they made some choices and desrve every penny of their pensions. They're not as high as you pretend them to be. I'm sure your millions will support you when you retire!! But then, you chose 'free enterprise'.
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Kevin O’leary is the evil that your parents warn children about. This Man is what is wrong with this world….GREED. I hate him and what he represents EVIL. See a regular person doesn’t have people help them if they make a bad business decision but the Kevin o’leary of the world get rescued if they make a bad decision from world governments.
On CBC I seen Kevin O’leary say the problem with the world is the labour Unions of the world He said” ban them, make them illegal” ..No Kevin they shouldn’t, see the world is going through a change;
the labour fight is back on and the working class seems to be losing to guys like you but the war isn’t loss
Kevin O’leary wants the working class working for 50cents hour, this shows how greedy you are.
My bet Kevin is your a very unhappy person in life.
CBC should get this bum off their show, I believe a guy like him will hurt your rating…
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Ty smasher35, this guy is indeed the scum of the earth, I to hate everything they represent or try to, they will get there’s soon enough when they try to push us all to far, to low, there greed is appalling, the shit will hit the fan sooner rather than later.
I was a fan of Kevin’s until It finally dawned on me that this guy should be referred to as “Mr. Condescending” not “Mr. Wonderful”. The same goes for Robert Herjavec. My dislike of these goofballs stems from their work on The Dragons Den & The Shark Tank. I can’t stand the way they belittle the entrepreneurs that appear on that show. They literally laugh at people with less then promising ideas. I guess they lack the intelligence to come up with entertaining comments for the budding entrepreneurs. Compare these two jackasses to Daymond John from The Shark Tank and you’ll see they are classless individuals.
O’Leary is the epitome of the capitalist pig, shrill in his dislike of the same government that provides him a safe haven for his ill gotten loot. People like him were designed for Mao’s injunction to go work in the fields for a year. If he had to live like the average citizens hed self destruct. O’Leary is a perfectly reptillian exemplar of everhting that has gone wrong in Canadian society. His shrill “more capitalism, more democracy” is a joke when one looks at the real world. Fuck P’Leary and all his kind
Ty contacter177, I could not have said it better myself.