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The Street
The Street
Jeffrey Quiggle

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary Facing Criticism After Tone Deaf Tweet

During the first season of Disney's (DIS) ABC-TV show "Shark Tank", fellow host Barbara Corcoran sarcastically called Kevin O'Leary Mr. Wonderful while he was negotiating a tough deal.

The nickname stuck and has followed him ever since.

But now Twitter users are responding to a Feb. 11 O'Leary tweet that seems soulless to some.

"You may lose your wife, you may lose your dog, your mother may hate you," he wrote as @kevinolearytv. "None of those things matter. What matters is that you achieve success and become free. Then you can do whatever you like."

Social media was quick to react. 

"Did your wife & dog walk out on you after this tweet?" asked @businessbarista.

"Kevin, this is a soulless tweet!" wrote @MasonVersluis. "Being soulless has brought you massive success, however, you now need to tap into your inner higher self and stop focusing on the money! Hopefully, you know self and have not gotten your brand mixed up with the human!"

"He's a narcissistic devil like most baby boomers," tweeted @Mi6ual. "They are afraid of death, because they know what awaits them, but they forget that they can't take their wealth with them to hell."

O'Leary founded software company SoftKey International in 1986. It was known as The Learning Company from 1995 to 1999 when the company was acquired by Mattel (MAT) for $4.2 billion.

In 2003, O'Leary co-founded climate-controlled storage company Storage Now. The company served pharmaceutical companies such as Merck (MRK) and Pfizer (PFE).

"Today, O'Leary leads the O'Leary Financial Group – a group of companies that includes O'Shares Investment Advisers, O'Leary Ventures and a continually growing roster of other businesses," writes ABC.  "He is also the founder and chief sommelier of O'Leary Fine Wines, an award-winning wine label, as well as a member of Boston's 107-year-old Hamilton Trust."

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