'I wouldn't let him manage a candy store': Kevin O'Leary blasts California Gov. Gavin Newsom after Chevron projects up to $4B profit hit due to state's energy policies

“Shark Tank” investor and businessman Kevin O’Leary has a message for California governor Gavin Newsom: “Wake up and smell the hydrocarbons.”

California’s climate change policies have come under fire this week after Chevron revealed it faces a profit hit of up to $4 billion due to restrictive regulations in the Golden State. The regulations “have resulted in lower anticipated future investment levels,” the company said in a filing on Jan. 2, per Bloomberg.

In an interview on Fox Business, O’Leary slammed the state’s “uncompetitive” energy policies and called California’s management “the worst of every state in the union.”

Despite claiming to “like” Newsom after meeting him in person, O’Leary described the democratic governor as “clueless to the competition” in the energy market between states — adding, “I wouldn’t let him manage a candy store.”

He called California “a very bad place to do business” for energy companies and their investors. Is O’Leary right?