TRANSCRIPT

                         March 08, 2024

                           NEWS EVENT

                                

            KEVIN O'LEARY, O'LEARY VENTURES CHAIRMAN

                                

                                

                                

   FNC INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN O'LEARY, O'LEARY VENTURES CHAIRMAN

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     FNC INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN O'LEARY, O'LEARY VENTURES CHAIRMAN

     MARCH 8, 2024

     SPEAKERS:
     KEVIN O'LEARY, O'LEARY VENTURES CHAIRMAN

     MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS HOST

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS HOST: Now, let's bring in Kevin O'Leary, Chairman of O'Leary Ventures and a "Shark Tank" star investor. Kevin, it is rare that I look forward to talking to somebody all day long, but in your case, I actually have been looking forward to talk to you all day long.

Let's get your reaction first to shrinkflation, since the president was talking about at the State of the Union last night. How much is a problem -- of a problem is this for Americans when we talk really about this issue, it's the sense of the lived economy is a pain point for a lot of folks right now.

KEVIN O'LEARY, O'LEARY VENTURES CHAIRMAN: Yes, the shrinkflation of potato bags Dorito story that's -- kind of doesn't solve the problem. The real issue is the $62,000 average salary in America, basic costs pre-pandemic. So, in other words, whether it's energy, gas, housing, or food, you're up between 25 and 35 percent.

Now, what would have been great for the incumbent -- and by the way, inflation is always a really big problem for the incumbent if it exists going into an election cycle. It's a huge problem. It's always around these three issues. But the trouble is I don't think the Fed is going to reduce rates in June because their mandates 2 percent, inflation is 3. It's never been anything else. And so, that relief won't come in time.

So, this issue will remain for the next nine months, being a really big problem. And so, I think Trump will hammer on it. Biden will try and talk about, you know, it's hard to call the stock market safe as a measure because the average person, stock market's hitting new high, but the average person is dealing with 35 percent increased costs across everything.

So, yes, it is a huge election issue. Border security number one, inflation number two, energy probably number three. I mean, you know, it's -- and they're not going to change. That's the way it's going to be for nine months. So, get ready to rock and roll.

MACCALLUM: Very hard. We were talking about this early in the show. You know, nine months is an eternity on the political calendar, but when it comes to fixing problems with policies, not much time at all. It goes by in the blink of an eye.

I want to make sure I ask you about TikTok, our other big story of the hour, while I got you here. You know, some folks are saying, I depend on TikTok to run essentially marketing for my small business. I even run TikTok as a platform to sell and close transactions. So, if it is banned eventually, what does that mean for the small business economy?

O'LEARY: Not going to get banned, because I'm going to buy it. Somebody's going to buy it. It won't be Meta and it won't be Google because the regulator will stop that. A syndicate will be formed. I would like to be involved obviously.

Well, what I would do is form a bipartisan committee, an advisory committee for 18 months. Go to them and I'd say to them, how much will you let me keep of the Chinese? In other words, can we offer them 20 percent of NewCo and then everything else, hire an American CEO, American board, move the servers here to the United States, rewrite the code so we can shut out the Chinese backdoors, because that's what everybody wants.

But you can leave a taste for the Chinese and we'll put a mandate in place. They get to keep 20 percent. That way you run a process. This is worth billions. It's one of the most successful advertising platforms in social media today. All my companies use it. I'll buy it. I can put a syndicate together of debt and equity as long as I can get the blessing of the House, because nobody wants to fund this thing if they think they can be bought politically.

But if we make it all American, including the servers, I can get this deal done. I want to buy it.

MACCALLUM: Well, I'm glad you made some news with us. I hope you got a lot of time to get dragged up to Capitol Hill to testify for days on end in front of committees, because that's going to be like 50 percent of the job if you do, in fact, own TikTok.

Kevin, we got leave it there. Thanks so much for taking time with us.

O'LEARY: Take care, bye-bye.

MACCALLUM: Bye.

END