‘We’re done providing free money from the sky’: Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary says next stimulus should not include any aid to businesses

• Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary says any further fiscal stimulus should not include PPP aid to businesses.
• The stimulus should include unemployment insurance for workers who will be displaced if their businesses shut down, the investor added.
• O’Leary said Monday’s massive stock rally on news of a 90% effective coronavirus vaccine demonstrated there’s plenty of liquidity for companies that have been hurt by the pandemic. 
• “The market is providing all kinds of liquidity in lenders, and debt and equity,” he said. “The airlines [went] up 20 percent yesterday, let them issue shares if they wish, but we’re done providing free money from the sky. We don’t need to.”
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Kevin O’Leary told CNBC on Tuesday that any follow-up fiscal stimulus should not include any aid to businesses through the paycheck protection program because it’s unnecessary.

The O’Shares ETF chairman and Shark Tank investor said the stimulus should still include unemployment insurance for workers who will be displaced if their businesses shut down.

“What I would like to see is zero PPP, no more for businesses,” O’Leary said. “Those employees that are being displaced, let’s provide unemployment insurance for them. But zero dollars to the shareholders of those businesses.”

The investor has said since the summer that he believes 20% of small businesses will fail in the next year, not because of the pandemic but because of a “change in consumer preferences.” Therefore, it’s a waste of government money to provide funds to businesses that are doomed to fail, according to O’Leary. 

He reiterated this view on Tuesday, and also said that Monday’s massive stock rally demonstrated there’s plenty of liquidity for companies that have suffered during the pandemic.

Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings all gained more than 30% on Monday after positive vaccine news. United Airlines surged as much as 27%, and Delta Air Lines climbed 23% during intraday trading on Monday. 

Read more: 8 world-class investors share how they’ve positioned to profit from the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough — and the bets they’ve been making all year on a post-pandemic world

“The market is providing all kinds of liquidity in lenders, and debt and equity,” said O’Leary. “The airlines [went] up 20 percent yesterday, let them issue shares if they wish, but we’re done providing free money from the sky. We don’t need to.”

“The PPP should be over. Zero. Done,” O’Leary added.