In this article we have featured Dave Portnoy Net Worth, Ever wondered how much Dave Portnoy is net worth? He is also the President of Barstool Sports, a take-out pizza reviewer, and an influencer.
Portnoy has millions of followers on his various social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and others. Barstool Sports is his claim to fame, despite his huge following on social media and his status as a celebrity by all metrics. Dave Portnoy has a net worth of 120 million dollars as the founder and majority shareholder of Barstool Sports. The following post explains how Portnoy built his company and how you can do the same.
Mr. Portnoy has a net worth of $120 million in 2023 and has been in the sports media industry for nearly a decade. Founder of digital sports conglomerate Barstool Sports, Portnoy made his fortune in the digital sports industry.
In two separate transactions, he sold parts of Barstool. The Chernin Group acquired a majority stake from him in 2016.
Penn Gaming acquired the company’s founders’ 36% stake in January 2020 for $163 million. In this article, we will discuss these transactions and how they affected Portnoy’s wealth.
About Dave Portnoy
On March 22, 1977, David Portnoy was born in Swampscott, Massachusetts. He attended the University of Michigan where he received a degree in education in 1999 upon graduating from Swampscott High School.
He worked for the Yankee Group in Boston after graduating from college.
Dave Portnoy’s Net Worth
According to a source, Dave Portnoy’s net worth as of January 1, 2023, was worth $120 million. Portnoy attributes much of his wealth to Barstool Sports, the digital sports conglomerate he founded.
During the few years that Barstool Sports has been in business, it has seen steady growth.
It was reported in January 2016 that Peter Chernin’s Chernin Group had acquired a majority stake in the sports and pop culture blog for between $10 and $15 million. The Chernin Group increased its stake in Barstool to 60% two years later, reportedly investing another $20 to $25 million. The company’s content production continued to be supervised by Portnoy regardless of these developments.
A whopping $450 million was paid to Penn National Gaming in January 2020 for a 36% stake in Barstool Sports by Portnoy. To ultimately gain a 50% stake, Penn would pay $163 million upfront and $62 million over three years.
Chernin’s stake in Barstool decreased to 36% as a result of Portnoy’s new deal with Penn. This means that Chernin and Penn own a combined 36% of Barstool Sports. Approximately 28% of the company’s shares are controlled by Portman and a few executives, such as Erika Nardini, CEO.
It’s also worth noting that Penn’s contract with Barstool Sports did more than just increase Portnoy’s earnings. The deal also increased Barstool’s brand value significantly, as is evidenced by Penn’s steady increase in share price.
As evidenced by Barstool’s brand value, Penn’s stock price has also steadily risen since the deal.
Following Penn’s partnership with Barstool, its stock reportedly surged to a record high of $38. This success was short-lived, however, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic which caused Penn’s stock to plummet. As of March 17, 2020, the stock had lost 81% of its value from its peak a few weeks earlier. It wasn’t long before the stock recovered. The stock is now worth $20 per share as of May 10, 2020. At the end of August, the stock had risen to $50 per share.
Dave Portnoy also launched the pizza review show One Bite with Davey Pageviews along with Barstool Sports.
Key Learnings from the life of Dave Portnoy
- What you do must be your passion:
- Portnoy worked for Barstool Sports for ten hours a day in the beginning. He tried to partner with local venues and wrote for the magazine. The magazine would not make him any serious money for years to come, and it was not glamorous work. You need to love your job to succeed. You will not have fans or money in the early days of your business, and you will ask yourself continuously whether your endeavor is worthwhile. Getting through it means loving what you do and assembling a team of like-minded individuals.
- Network effects can sometimes be faked:
Reddit is an excellent example of this. To make Reddit appear like there is an engaged community of people already talking about a topic, the founders would make fake accounts to comment on threads. One of the writers at Barstool used multiple pseudonyms, making it seem like Barstool was a much bigger publication than it actually was. - Don’t apologize for being you:
The number of sports betting websites has increased dramatically in recent years, Portnoy has acknowledged. He says his competitive advantage is his employees’ and his own personality. Copying your competitors may be a good idea when starting a business. What really makes you different from them is how you provide your own twist on an existing product or service. - Follow your dreams
While Portnoy had a successful career at the Yankee Group, he quit pursuing his own interests. It proved to be an extremely wise decision. - Dream big
Following the retirement of then-Mayor Thomas Menino, Dave Portnoy ran for the position in 2013. Portnoy’s bid failed, however, since he was unable to collect enough signatures. Yet, he remained a trailblazer and showed that no ceiling is too high. - Support worthy causes
In his capacity as CEO of Barstools Sports, Dave Portnoy has supported a wide range of humanitarian causes. The company donated $250,000 in 2013 to those affected by the bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Dave Portnoy Investments
Barstool
In 2003, Dave founded a print publication called Barstool Sports for the Boston metro area. In addition to fantasy sports predictions, the paper featured gaming ads. Published in 2007, the site features fantasy sports predictions and gaming ads.
With 10 years to go, Barstool would become a powerhouse of sports media.
Portnoy put in 10+ hour days as far back as the site’s early days, while also working on Saturdays and Sundays.
On the site, Dave is known as “El Presidente” or “Stool Presidente”. Sports coverage paired with attractive women make up the site. As one of the most popular sports sites on the web today, BarstoolSports has been described as a mixture of ESPN and Girls Gone Wild.
Portnoy began publishing pizza reviews in 2017 called “One Bite with Davey Pageviews”. The show reviews every pizza restaurant in Manhattan as its unofficial goal.
Chernin Acquisition
Earlier in 2016, it was reported Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group had acquired a majority stake in Barstool for $10 – $15 million. Chernin purchased a 60% stake in 2018 with an investment of $20 – 25 million.
In the end, Portnoy was fully in control of the company’s content, which included podcasts, gambling content, merchandise, alcohol brands, TV shows, and more.
Penn National Acquisition
Penn National Gaming purchased a 36% stake in Barstool Sports in January 2020, valued at $450 million. Initially, $163 million in cash will be transacted. Penn National has the ability to increase its stake to 50% over the next three years by paying an additional $62 million. A year after closing, Penn National’s stake matched Chernin Group’s 36% stake, reducing Chernin Group’s 60% stake to 36%. Portnoy and several key employees, including Erika Nardini, still own the remaining 28%.
The stock spiked to an all-time high of $38 in the days following the announcement. The stock of Penn plummeted after the worldwide Coronavirus outbreak. As of March 17, it was trading at $7 per share. Its peak price is 81% lower than its current price.
By May 10, the stock price had returned to around $20 a share. Around $50 per share was the price by August. The price had risen to over $100 per share by January 2021.
Stock Holdings
Approximately $23 million of the $163 million in cash were converted into convertible preferred stock, and $3 million was put aside as “forward arrangements,” according to the Q1 2020 10-Q SEC filing of Penn Gaming. Ultimately, the convertible stock can be converted into 883,000 shares of Penn Gaming, which is approximately 0.5% of Penn Gaming’s market capitalization.
Penn Gaming has a market cap of $10 billion as of this writing. At that level, 0.5% of a company is worth $50 million. A third of that stake is reportedly owned by Dave, which amounts to around $16 million at current rates. As a result of his remaining approximately $90 million stakes in Barstool, as well as his past wealth, we estimate that Dave Portnoy’s net worth is $100 million.
The Barstool Fund
Dave donated $500,000 to the Barstool Fund in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund was created to help small businesses deal with the crisis. Ultimately, nearly 350 small businesses received $39 million from the fund.
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Final Word: Dave Portnoy NetWorth
Through his company, Barstools Sports, Dave Portnoy has revolutionized both sports and pop culture. Portnoy currently has a net worth of $120 million but based on the current position of Barstool, his wealth is expected to increase even more in the near future.
