Dave Portnoy is an American internet celebrity and blogger with an estimated net worth of $120 million as of 2022. He is also the founder of the sports and pop culture blog Barstool Sports. He made most of his wealth through his company which is valued at $450 million.
Let us explore more details about David Portnoy and his net worth in our article today.
Early life
David Portnoy was born in the year 1977 in Swampscott, Massachusetts. He studied at Swampscott High School and completed his graduation from the University of Michigan in 1995.
Career
Post completion of his graduation, Portnoy relocated to Boston to kickstart his career at the IT market research firm, Yankee Group. He quit the Yankee group after four years to start his entrepreneurial journey.
Barstool Sports
Barstool Sports is a little tricky company to explain as this is akin to a puzzle. The company started its journey in 2003 as a print-only publication with a primary focus on fantasy sports and betting catering majorly to the Boston metropolitan area.
With changing business dynamics and great advancements in technology, Barstool shifted to online distribution in 2007 which coincided with the launch of the iPhone. The company fanbase experienced exponential growth in the next few years and it aimed at young (and male) sports fans.
Barstool expanded its reach outside of mainstream media. Consumers love the Barstool brand very much as it offers an escape from the increasingly buttoned-up sports content on TV.
Barstool Stake Sale
The Chernin Group (TCG), which operates and invests in businesses in the media, entertainment, and technology sectors bought a major stake in Barstool in 2016. The deal was reported to be worth somewhere between $10 to $15 million as per reports published in some media outlets. Two years later TCG acquired more stake in the company.
Penn National Gaming entered into a pact with the founders of the company to buy their 36% stake in Barstool Sports for a whopping $163 million in 2020. The amount included a $135 million upfront payment in cash and $28 million in Penn non-voting convertible preferred stock.
Barstool reported revenue of ~$100 million in 2019 however the company was “modestly” profitable. Even after the stake sale, Portnoy was in charge of running the portal and also creative control over the content published on the website.
Earnings
Dave Portnoy rakes in anywhere between $1.7 to $1.8 million every year.
The Barstool Fund
Dave contributed $500,000 to the Barstool Fund when the COVID-19 pandemic stuck in 2020. The fund was launched to assist micro businesses which were severely impacted because of the lockdown introduced by the government.
The fund managed to raise $39 million which was then distributed to nearly 350 small businesses.
Real Estate
David Portnoy recently bought a luxury sea-facing mansion in Morningside, Miami for $14M. He also owns Hamptons beach house mansion in Montauk purchased for $9.5 million.
Social Media
Dave Portnoy is active on the social media platform Instagram where he has 4.3 million followers at the time of writing this article.
Politics
After Thomas Menino’s retirement in 2013, Portnoy mounted an unsuccessful bid to succeed him as mayor of Boston. He received nearly $17,000 in campaign donations but lacked the necessary number of nomination signatures to be eligible for the election.
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