Kevin O’Leary, the self-proclaimed “Mr. Wonderful” of Shark Tank, seems to have found a new way to extend his 15 minutes of fame — by enthusiastically licking the boots of Donald Trump and doubling down on the president’s trade war theatrics. 3j3c4y

Nothing says “economic genius” quite like taking an already disastrous policy (104% tariffs on China) and suggesting that we quadruple it to 400%. On CNN earlier this week, O’Leary blasted China for what he called “systemic intellectual property theft” and trade practices that, in his words, have been cheating the global system for decades. While these are valid concerns, his solution — a dramatic escalation of tariffs — is not only impractical but potentially disastrous.

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary, sucking up to Donald Trump, says 104 percent tariffs on China "aren't high enough."

Give me a break. This is the same guy who used the model of outsourcing manufacturing to China, regardless of the quality, to made the biggest buck by producing the… pic.twitter.com/cxrrQvQEPq

— Patti Mohr (@MohrMedia1) April 9, 2025

O’Leary argued that the United States should use its economic power to force China into compliance. His claim? That the U.S., which s for 25% of global GDP and 39% of the world’s consumables, has the leverage to bring Chinese President Xi Jinping to the negotiating table. “It’s time to squeeze Chinese heads into the wall now,” O’Leary said, adding that no istration — not even Trump’s — has gone far enough in addressing China’s violations.

The crux of his argument is that China has never abided by the rules it agreed to when it ed the World Trade Organization (WTO). He accuses Beijing of intellectual property theft, copying U.S. innovations, and flooding global markets with cheaper knock-offs. He also laments the inability of foreign businesses to litigate in Chinese courts, making it nearly impossible for U.S. companies to fight back against IP theft.

O’Leary’s proposal might sound bold, but it ignores some basic economic realities. For starters, tariffs don’t just hurt the country they’re imposed on — they hurt the imposing country as well. Global markets are already reeling from the implementation of the current round of tariffs, with Japan’s benchmark index plummeting 3.9% and European stocks shedding about 4%. The bond market has taken a significant hit, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbing to nearly 4.5% – a development that affects countless loans and investments for average Americans who, unlike O’Leary, don’t have millions to cushion them from economic shocks.

For someone who built his reputation on being a shrewd businessman, O’Leary demonstrates a remarkable willingness to gamble with an economy that affects hundreds of millions of people who didn’t sign up for his high-stakes game.

The strangest part of all this? I find myself wondering if O’Leary actually believes what he’s saying or if this is just another performance in the endless reality show that American political discourse has become. Either way, as I watch billionaires casually suggest policies that would cause economic havoc for regular people, I can’t help but think we’ve reached the final season of America’s economic reality show – and the writers are clearly running out of believable plot lines.

Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has his sights set on something big. He made an announcement via X, saying that he has ed forces with business executive Frank McCourt and The People’s Bid for TikTok in an attempt to acquire the social media platform.

TikTok is set to be banned in the U.S. on Jan. 19 if its parent company in Beijing, China, ByteDance, fails to secure a buyer for TikTok’s American assets. Concerns have been raised that the Chinese government could exploit the platform to access data from millions of its American s, posing a serious security threat.

In Dec. 2024, McCourt announced that he was forming a group of associates to purchase TikTok, named the People’s Bid for TikTok, to prevent it from being banned in the country. Furthermore, the project’s goal is to improve TikTok and allow its s more control over managing their data. “McCourt and his partners are seizing this opportunity to return control and value back into the hands of individuals and provide Americans with a meaningful voice, choice, and stake in the future of the web,” the announcement read. 

On Jan. 6, O’Leary went on Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum to talk about the potential acquisition, saying they need Donald Trump’s help to secure the deal. “I wanted to let him know, as well as others in his cabinet, that we’re doing this, and we’re going to need their help,” the investor said. O’Leary expressed interest in the platform early last year, but now his efforts are being merged into the People’s Bid for TikTok.

What is Trump’s stance on the TikTok ban? 1w6s2o

In 2020, then-President Trump denounced China amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “What happened with China with this virus, what they’ve done to this country and to the entire world is disgraceful.” A few days later, he stated, “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.” In Aug. 2020, Trump signed an executive order to ban TikTok, but it didn’t go into effect.

When Joe Biden took office, the TikTok security issue was still under discussion. Trump changed his tune in March 2024, saying that while he’s still concerned about data privacy, he’s opposed to banning it as that will give an advantage to Facebook, which he described as the “enemy of the people.” In April 2024, Biden signed a law mandating the platform’s ban in the U.S. if ByteDance failed to divest TikTok within 270 days, setting a deadline of Jan. 19, 2025.

Trump officially takes office on Jan. 20, a day after TikTok’s deadline. In Dec. 2024, the president-elect filed a request to the Supreme Court to delay the mandate, arguing that his istration be given the opportunity to find a “political resolution” to the issue after he’s inaugurated into office. The Department of Justice, meanwhile, is pushing back, pleading for the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s request and maintain the current deadline.

A Supreme Court hearing on Jan. 10 will address the legality of the TikTok ban law, and assess whether it infringes on the First Amendment rights of TikTok and its s. The outcome of this assessment could have significant implications for the social media platform’s future in the U.S., but not if O’Leary gets his way.

Leave it to the old guy from Shark Tank to add some perspective to the whole Donald Trump fraud case fiasco. Kevin O’ Leary, best known for that show but also an investor and entrepreneur, took a step outside the “Trump is bad” bubble to let people know what he thinks is a sad truth: “New York is slowly becoming the number one loser state in America.”

For context: Former President Trump and his companies were found to have inflated the value of properties to secure better bank loans. He was fined $355 million, and barred from running any companies in New York for a few years. On the surface, it seems pretty cut and dry: You lie about the value of your properties, and you get in trouble for it. Not so fast, says O’Leary. The Canadian businessman appeared on CNN last night to share his own thoughts on the matter.

“Excuse me, what fraud">In an appeal, Trump’s lawyers argued that the lenders at Deutsche Bank had to do their own due diligence on the deals, and that they, as financial experts, should be smart enough to know that Trump was inflating the value of his property. O’Leary thinks the court’s ruling is just painting a black smear over business in New York, and will have a chilling effect on everything.

He then goes after the judge in the case, Judge Arthur Engoron, who had to deal with the unenviable task of wrangling the former president inside of the courtroom. O’Leary thinks Engoron was being irrational in his ruling, and in the amount he fined Trump. He wants everyone to know that he thinks this is bigger than Trump.

“Forget about Trump, I don’t care about Trump anymore. I care about America I care about entrepreneurship and I care about democracy.” Of course, Trump has been playing the hits for this one,. screaming that the whole thing is a political witch hunt, and a hack job, etc. When you look at it from that point of view, is he right?

As for the whole “doing a fair assessment” thing, a Deutsche Bank employee named David Williams testified during the trial that doing due diligence on client information was standard practice, and that at one point, they even dropped Trump’s net worth from $4.9 billion to $2.6 billion. Apparently that wasn’t enough for the government. Whether or not this has a chilling effect on business remains to be seen, but if O’Leary is right, then the real loser here is the great state of New York.

Despite still being illegal in a number of states, cannabis is a big business in the U.S. After all, the country is basically founded on the premise that making money is more important than anything else, and there are plenty of ways to rake in the cash using marijuana-based products, even those that don’t get you stereotypically high — like CBD sweets and products. However, even with this caveat, some businesses are still afraid to go all-in on the green thanks to its delicate legal status (it’s still a crime to possess weed on a federal level), so it’s pretty surprising to hear that the investment reality show Shark Tank might have funded a company that was set to produce CBD gummies.

While this rumor has been circulating the web for a while, the categorical truth is that nobody on Shark Tank has ever invested in CBD gummies. But where did this claim come from? And why did a business try to claim that they were on the famous ABC show, when it’s so easy to debunk? Read on to find out more.

What is Shark Tank? h76j

Shark Tank is a business reality television show that ran its first episode on ABC in 2009. The show is a part of the international Dragon’s Den franchise, which began in Japan with the series Money Tigers, and follows wannabe businessmen and women as they pitch their ideas to wealthy investors, or “sharks,” who then decide whether or not to invest in their companies.

Although many deals appear to go through on the show, a fair few actually never end up happening thanks to due diligence by the investors. However, investors genuinely use their own cash, and many entrepreneurs get a massive boost in sales simply by appearing on the show thanks to the additional publicity, so it’s still a great bet to try and get on if you have a business idea. This explains why scammers might try and make unsuspecting customers believe that their product has the show’s seal of approval.

Who are the sharks on Shark Tank? 5b565k

The original five sharks were business executive Kevin Harrington, FUBU founder Daymon John, real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, Croatian-American investor and television personality Robert Herjavec, and Canadian business brain Kevin O’Leary. After the first two seasons Harrington left and was replaced by film producer and money man Mark Cuban, and a season later inventor Lori Greiner was also added to the .

Throughout the various seasons there have also been guest sharks, including Giants owner Steve Tisch, former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, and famous adherent to pseudoscience Gwyneth Paltrow.

What CBD gummy manufacturer pretended to be on Shark Tank, and is it a scam? 5d3357

A company that calls itself Keoni CBD Gummies has recently been claiming that all six sharks invested in its company in a historic, multi-million dollar deal. Its viral ment takes the form of a news article, and also ropes in businesswomen and sisters Donna and Rosy Khalife, who previously did appear on the show, claiming that the pair were the ones who secured the record-breaking funding.

The ad has several pieces of misleading information in it, including the following claim:

“Apparently the Khalife sisters have invented a new Keoni CBD Gummies formula that can stop Nicotine Cravings instantly & for good.”

The website on which the fake article appears is called Entertainment Today Inside News, but there is no other news on there, entertainment or otherwise. Any attempts to get off the article and explore other parts of the website just lead to more sales pages for the gummies.

O’Leary isn’t specifically mentioned in the ment, but altered photos of him holding up large packs of CBD gummies are displayed prominently in it. He hasn’t released a statement, but given how amateur the scam’s entire operation appears to be, and his reputation, he probably doesn’t need to. The Khalife sisters, however, have had to hit back, releasing a statement that confirms they are not d with Keoni, nor Wellness Brands – the company that seems to own the CBD company.

Asked for comment by USA Today, Rosy Khalife confirmed they didn’t know anything about the product, as well as pointing out they had never pitched CBD gummies on the show. They added:

“We get dozens of messages a week about these gummies and want people to know the truth. It’s frustrating that this scam has been going on for months.”

The Khalife siblings pitched to investors on the show all the way back in 2014, trying to secure funding for their product Surprise Ride. It is a subscription service that supplies kids with non-screen, tactile educational tools to help them to improve their learning abilities inside and outside the classroom. Although they failed to secure funding while on the main show, they appeared two years later on the spin-off series Beyond the Tank, at which point O’Leary offered to fund them. Unlike the fake ment, this was in fact a moment of real Shark Tank history, as it was the first time one of the show’s investors had gotten back in touch with a former contestant and offered them the funding they required. The sisters are still running the business as co-founders, as per the company’s website.

O’Leary isn’t the only one displayed in the commercial. He’s flanked by two women, also holding up bags of the gummies. The original picture of the trio didn’t contain any images of the CBD product, and was taken outside of a store that sells paint and wine. The image appears to have originated on social media, having been posted by Wine & Design, the paint-and-sip store in question.

This isn’t the first time this has happened, either. Lots of companies claim to have been on Shark Tank in an attempt to boost sales, and in March there was a seemingly identical article about a different brand of CBD gummies making a similar claim. As a result, ABC has a section on their website that’s dedicated to confirming which companies have actually appeared on the show.