Kevin O’Leary stars on ABC’s new business reality show Shark Tank as one of five executives who vet business ideas pitched by would-be entrepreneurs. O’Leary often delivers the harshest of the business critiques. On a recent show, he called one small-business owner “radioactive.” On another show he told a woman who said her products spread happiness that her business was worthless.
That take-no-prisoners toughness is certainly entertaining, but behind the ego and bluster, O’Leary’s real-life business performance is spotty. All four of the funds run by O’Leary’s asset-management company are trailing the market this year. Shares of the company’s oldest fund, O’Leary Global Equity Income Fund, which was launched in 2008, have plunged nearly 24% in the past year. Next, there’s the truth-in-advertising problem: O’Leary calls himself an “eco-preneur,” but many of the funds’ investments are in coal companies and other large polluters. An O’Leary Funds representative declined to comment on the performance of the funds.
