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‘Shark Tank’ star: Fact 85 richest people have same wealth as half world population ‘fantastic news’

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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“Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary says a new report showing that the combined wealth of the world’s 85 richest people is equal to the combined wealth of the world’s poorest 3.5 billion people is “fantastic news.”

O’Leary made the comment on his CBC show “The Lang and O’Leary Exchange” Monday.

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“This is a great thing because it inspires everybody, gets them motivation to look up to the one percent and say, ‘I want to become one of those people, I’m going to fight hard to get up to the top,'” he said of the new Oxfam report. “This is fantastic news and of course I applaud it. What can be wrong with this?”

O’Leary’s co-host Amanda Lang didn’t quite agree.

“Really?” she asked. “So somebody living on a dollar a day in Africa is getting up in the morning and saying, ‘I’m going to be Bill Gates’?”

Born in Canada, O’Leary first made his fortune — estimated to be $300 million by CelebrityNetWorth.com — when he sold his software business, The Learning Company, to Mattel in 1999. He is best known in the U.S. as the acerbic star of the hit ABC reality TV show “Shark Tank.”

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Jamie Weinstein