Kevin O'Leary, co-host of CBC's business show The Lang And O'Leary Exchange, is a veteran of the business world. O'Leary is opinionated, ruthless, he hungers for big deals and loves to take control. Yet he made his millions helping children learn how to read.

Born in Montreal, O'Leary's success story starts where most entrepreneurs begin: with a big idea and zero cash. From his basement, he launched SoftKey Software Products.

As sales took off, O'Leary moved to headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., and went on an industry-consolidating acquisition binge. From 1995 to 1999 he bought almost every one of his software competitors, including Mindscape, Broderbund and the Learning Company. Shareholders love his take-no-prisoners cost-cutting style and fueled him with billions to do his deals. In 1999, O'Leary sold his company to the Mattel Toy Co. for $3.7 billion, one of the largest deals ever done in the consumer software industry.

He took control of his wealth from his money managers and founded his own mutual fund company, O'Leary Funds. He raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors who share his "get paid while you wait," yield-oriented value investing philosophy.

O'Leary shares his tips and tribulations with a national television audience and turns The Street upside down in the process. As a self-proclaimed "Eco-preneur," he looks hardest for investments that make money — and are environmentally friendly.

When he's not squeezing the market from his office in West Palm Beach, Fla., he travels the world looking for new opportunities to deploy his capital. O'Leary is a founding investor and director of Stream Global, an international business outsourcing company. He is on the investment committee of Boston's 200-year-old Hamilton Trust, and is the chairman of O'Leary Funds. He also serves on the executive board of The Richard Ivey School of Business.