Kevin O’Leary, a.k.a. “Mr. Wonderful’’ on the reality television series Shark Tank, has some wonderful news for women.
Of the profitable businesses in his portfolio, all have female CEOs.
O’Leary came across this fact by accident. At a recent event for a startup, he told Business Insider that he asked his staff to see what the companies providing him returns all had in common.
The answer? Every one of them was led by a woman.
Of the more than two dozen companies in O’Leary’s diverse portfolio, just over half have female CEOs. Not all of them are profitable, he says, but among those that are, all are female-owned.
So what’s the secret to their success? O’Leary suspects it could be multitasking.
Women are sometimes considered better multitaskers than men, a skill important to startup and mid-level companies with annual sales of $5 million to $10 million.
Women take less risk, focus on goals and deliver on promises, O’Leary said.
This wasn’t the first time the Canadian entrepreneur, author and TV personality has shouted the praises of women.
Earlier this year, he told Entrepreneur that women make better CEOs and if given the choice between a woman and a man, all things being equal, he would choose the woman every time.
Notably, the profitable, female-owned businesses in his portfolio aren’t tied to a specific industry, he said.
They cross multiple sectors, including food, consumer goods, manufacturing and biotech. They have nothing to do with each other except have positive returns.
As an investor on the hit ABC series, O’Leary said he has never looked at gender when evaluating the pitches. He focuses on the deal and whether he can make money.
Now, however, given his findings, he might go back and look more closely at the trend over time.
O’Leary , 60, has been an investor on Shark Tank since it debuted in 2009.
He supposedly earned his nickname during that first season when he proposed a majority ownership in a music publishing business. Fellow investor Barbara Corcoran thought his idea was aggressive and said, “Well aren’t you Mr. Wonderful?’’ Since then, stories around the name have morphed, but his title has stuck.
O’Leary, who has led companies in the field of software (Softkey), education (The Learning Company) and storage (Storage Now), says his findings should encourage companies to elevate women to CEOs.
Simply put, they make money and get the job done.
