In 2019 Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary was very public in his opinions that bitcoin is worthless. But it turns out he has actually owned bitcoin since 2017. He also made a flip flop on Tesla. In 2018 he said he would never buy Tesla stock but just one year later he bought it. In this video we go over Kevin O'leary's flip flops.
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What's up guys and welcome back to wall street millennial on this channel, we cover everything related stocks and investing today we're talking about kevin o'leary through the hit show shark tank he's created a name for himself as an astute no-nonsense investor. He has expanded his personal brand as a stock market and crypto investor, making frequent appearances on cnbc to talk about his investments. Two of his most successful investments over the past year have been tesla and bitcoin, as both of them have mooned in 2020 and early 2021.. But if you followed kevin o'leary before 2019, you might be surprised by his investments.
He's long been a value investor who bought cheap stocks which generate substantial free cash flow compared to their market cap and paid dividends. In fact, as of 2016, he said that he would never buy a stock that doesn't pay a dividend if it doesn't pay a dividend. I know that 71 percent of the time all the returns come from dividends. Why should i own stock doesn't pay a dividend, and i never will his strategy has long been to buy stocks that are making substantial free cash flows today he stays away from high growth companies that are burning cash.
He even goes as far as to say that being these types of stocks isn't real investing, it is more akin to gambling. You remember back in the late 90s i'll use one example toys.com. I was an investor in toys.com. I went to zero, never made any money and i grew a little four inch, charlie munger, on my shoulder when that happened, and he appears you can't see him but he's on my shoulder every time i'm getting pitched a deal like lift or uber and charlie says Only one thing: if it has no cash flow, just say no, and i have listened to my little charlie ever since the late 90s and i've been right 100 of the time this company is value-less, it doesn't have any cash flow.
It's a speculation, there's no different than putting your money down on red or black in vegas than giving money to one of these losers. Tesla is the diametric opposite of kevin's normal investment strategy. They only recently turned profitable and they likely won't pay a dividend for many years. Their valuation is very high because of future expectations of growth in autonomous driving technology.
This is exactly the type of stock that kevin would call a speculation and not a real investment. In 2018 he said he would never buy tesla stock. The stock has an infinite pe. You could call elon musk brilliant because he's in an industry that trades generally at 15 to 17 times, and he has a currency.
That's priceless and you know at the end of the day, if you get to use your infinite pe stock to raise more money, even though it's controversial and everything else remember one thing: this company has no legacy in combustion: construction, nothing holding it back from changing the Margins in the automotive industry forever. Nobody talks about that. There isn't a single engineer in that plant that worries about combustion engines. They manufacture, new schematics from scratch. That's what's so interesting and by the way i love the car, i would never buy the stock, but just one year later in 2019 he made a complete 180 and said that he bought tesla for me that i'm actually an investor in tesla. Why? Because i can now see the path to profitability, i'm up 38 on tesla. The only reason i bought it is my son got a job as a you know. Basically, an apprentice there, an intern - and i said trevor on your behalf - i'm going to buy a bunch of stock because the stock down is 13 today at a bad quarter and within six months the thing is now breaking even or even looks cash flow positive.
A quarter or two so as a result, the market has regraded that stock and it's up over 30 percent - and i rest my case, your honor, it's turning into a real company that makes money for shareholders. This has worked out quite well for him, as the stock has 10x in value since then, but this represents a complete reversal in his investment strategy. But this change of heart on tesla pales to his biggest flip-flop yet, which is bitcoin. Kevin o'leary has long been a crypto skeptic and as late as 2019, he was on tv saying that it's a scam, nothing here, except raw speculation, no different that when i go to las vegas and put my money on black or red on a roulette wheel, because Where is the intrinsic value inherent in deploying real capital? Let's talk real money here and putting it into bitcoin as a storage of value.
I get gold for 2 000 years, including the romans they saw value in in owning that as an asset class. Tell me why this, which is basically a digital um game, that's the way i look at it has any intrinsic value. When people actually put real money into this, they make no interest, they can't pay their taxes with it. The regulators don't like it, which is always a problem for compliance and where's the long-term value.
Just this. This idea that they're going to cut the number of units in half such a scam, like that's just totally bs from that clip. It's pretty obvious to see his stance on cryptocurrencies. He demeans bitcoin by calling it a digital game and calls it a scam.
The idea is that bitcoin produces nothing. It's much better, to put your capital into a real business which creates real cash flows. You might agree or disagree with this viewpoint, but it's a valid opinion to have, and even warren buffett thinks the same way. But at the same time that kevin was going on tv telling the world bitcoin is a scam.
He personally owned bitcoin and had owned it for more than a year. Suddenly, like bitcoin kevin what happened? Well, you know uh when facts change, i change and what changed and what kept me out of. I actually owned personally uh crypto since 2017, but couldn't talk about it because, as you recall, the regulators, particularly in large financial markets, including u.s, canada, switzerland, france, britain, the eurozone, were not really on side with bitcoin for quite a while. So basically, the regulatory stance is changing their view on specifically bitcoin now as an asset class. That interests me because i obviously own positions in the swiss franc, the euro, the british pound, the canadian dollar, the american dollar, so whether i view it as an asset or whether i view it as a currency, it deserves a weighting in my portfolio. Now now that i can own it without a regulatory backlash, which is i'm what i'm concerned about, i'm in the financial services industry he's owned bitcoin since 2017, but didn't disclose it until 2020.. He says this is because the regulators didn't approve of crypto at the time. So he didn't want to get into any compliance trouble.
He runs the oh shares etfs, which is a regulated financial company. He uses this as the reason that he didn't want to go public with his bitcoin position at the time, but this doesn't make a whole lot of sense. In 2017, he initiated a bitcoin position in his own individual account and had nothing to do with any of his companies. No compliance issues would arise from this.
I think a more likely reason for his delayed disclosure is that he bought near the peak of the bubble in 2017.. After the crash he was back holding throughout 2018 and 2019.. He didn't disclose his position because he didn't want to look like an idiot having bought at the top, but when bitcoin finally mooned in 2020, he used this to take credit as an early investor. Of course, this is just my opinion.
We don't know exactly what his cost basis was in 2017, or the real reason that he failed to disclose his position for so long, but this would go down as one of the greatest flip-flops in investing history. Tell me why this, which is basically a digital um game, that's the way i look at it. Has any intrinsic value with people actually put real money into this. They make no interest, they can't pay their taxes with it.
The regulators don't like it, which is always a problem for compliance and where's the long-term value. Just this. This idea that they're going to cut the number of units in half since such a scam. I actually owned personally uh crypto since 2017, but couldn't talk about it because what a joker all right, guys that wraps it up for this video.
What do you think about kevin o'leary's flip-flops? Let us know in the comments section below, as always. Thank you so much for watching and we'll see in the next one wall, street millennial signing out.
Kevin bought bitcoin in 2013 at a couple hundred bucks and shows he is very knowledgeable about bitcoin in a 2013 canadian news interview then he goes on CNBC in 2018 to call it a scam because it dropped from 20k to 7k and acted like he didn't know how it works. He knew what the true vale of Bitcoin was but purposefully mislead the public later
He’s a follower he goes where the trends are to get published and get recognized as a business man lmao is funny tho
He changes his mind on investments and you think this is bad? This tells me a lot more about you.
imagine trying to expose kevin o leary when hes been exposing elon musk for years lmfao elon musk is a true scam artist…
anyone with real insight knows he kept his bitcoin holdings private because it was frowned upon up until 2020.. all of you are clowns he even said it himself, he works in regulated buisnesses and bitcoin isnt regulated…
bet he said the same thing about apple, paypal, and any other stocks like those that were only worth a few dollars a share in their penny stock days.
Whether you believe in Bitcoin or Uber or not, you can definitely make some handsome money by trading them
Would this constitute a flip flop or lie? Did he change his mind on crypto or did he say something untrue with the intent to deceive?
Well he was disparaging Bitcoin while holding it. It seems like he was trying to keep the price down while buying more at a discount. The same goes for many others that have done the same thing. Now that what they were saying about Bitcoin is obviously not true they come out of the woodwork and start trying to inflate the price. They know where it's going. There is no stopping the train. In 10 years people will call them genius investors and visionaries. Though others have done it long before them on a smaller scale due to the average person's capital constraints. The regular people put their money where their mouth is. These guys just put a few percent of their net worth and only after the cat was out of the bag. Disgusting
What good is a currency you can't spend anywhere. Like trading real cash for monopoly money. How stupid can people be.
He thinks the coin is cheaper than his hairline that time so he waited cause it worth less than $100.
The only Shark with money is Cuban.
The others will meet you for 25K.
those who call bitcoin 'worthless' or some equivalent simply have not looked into what it actually is and what it (along with the blockchain tech it runs on) offers the world. once those folks do look into it, more often than not, they realise both what is, what the technology offers and change their minds. Education changes minds? who knew?
he didnt have btc in 2017 you can tell kevin is a ego maniac and he will lie to make himself look like he is always right. hes not fooling anyone
It is an asset, after owning it atleast he should educate himself a little bit
He flipped on Tesla because he saw profitability he was right on Tesla for 2 years it went to 200$ then switched up when he saw profitability timing was on point your opinion can change so fast in the market because so much is happening the Bitcoin one is kinda sketch though
O'Leary is like many Hollywood economists. He acts as if his words are gospel when they're just his opinion. People change their opinions all the time. O'Leary's a man and not the god he makes himself out to be.
By "making money from Bitcoin" what the really mean is trading contraband with Bitcoin and making a profit.
It's almost like 'Shark Tank' was a rip off the BBC show 'Dragon's Den' or something. Next we'll find out that 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' 'American Idol' 'The Office' and 'House of Cards' were actually British shows or something. But the Brits rip our shows off too so I guess it evens out.
I mean people change their opinions right? Not everything is absolute, and his opinion changed after years.
kevin has been extremely iffy lately. i still like him, but now I know when I hear put it on black and gambling, I know its a good thing to invest in XD
He is a clown. He has now lowered himself to shilling anything for $1200 on Cameo. Also His boat ran over another boat killing 2 people on a lake here in Canada after a dinner party. He claims his wife was driving
Better to be right than consistent. KOL is right about speculation vs investment. For some Tesla was never speculation, those people should ask how much were they wishcasting?
Dude he bought Tesla just when it turned profitable what is wrong with that he is a smart investor dont see any flip flop here man
Now I know better than to trust Kevin O'Leary. Thanks for the video!
A good flip flop instinct is needed in order to be a successful investor. Good strategy on his part
I think Kevin is the least likeable guy any where he goes. The fellow sharks on shark tank dont like him, hes usually the last shark that anyone actually wants to make a deal with, and mscnbc just has him on to say dumb shit that no one else agrees with.
Yea, he's a hustler. Stay far away from anything this guy pushes. Just like all the AMC pumpers on YouTube: Up and disappeared once AMC dropped below 40. He's disappear, too
Tesla showed profitability. No violation of principle. Bitcoin is not a stock. No violation of principle.
this man was super against bitcoin.. super shocked how he's now into crypto
Seeing bitcoin trade in the $8800 range in the background while he trashes it is wild.
I don't think there's anything wrong with changing your position if the facts change. Very often, I see videos on 'shorts' of Tesla who lose astronomical amounts of money with the crux of the message being: "You see all these changes, all the things you state as reasons for your short that are no longer relevant or accurate, but you don't change your position, what are you doing!?" – And this message resonates with me because speculation is not a bad word. If you believe that a company is a bad investment and you can quantify that belief, explaining to me why you feel that way… then by all means, place your bet. If however, the evidence no longer contributes to your case, you're just being stubborn, clinging to a position hoping that it turns out to be right, allowing you to state you were right 'all along'.
I highly respect Kevin for having a position when a stock is doing nothing, and then changing his position when it breaks out. Once it breaks out, this is new information, new evidence, new factors to consider.
If investments were binary, I'd get it, 100%. If it came down to: "You can make 1 choice at 1 time for this stock and you can't change your mind, so choose carefully." then those who backed the winners would have all these bragging rights, and those who passed on them or opposed them would have their write-offs. They couldn't make a bet based on the information they had, they were guided by certain principles or fundamentals so they just couldn't say 'yes' at the time, and now they miss out forever.
But that's not the case. Kevin is a fantastic example of someone who changed his mind when the evidence came in, when proof was shown.
I would never buy stock on either STOCK OR TESLA. WHY? OVERVALUED AS FUCK.
Its not a flip flop when everyone in the long term will do it. EVERYONE goes through the process of hating, considering, then buying btc.
Its not just him, many investment banks also flip flop on crypto… But we all know banks are serial liars…
I knew he only had four inches… But who knew it was on his sboulder!