The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
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Portnoy says ESPN refused to hire Pat McAfee before Barstool signed him
“McAfee came on and he knew he wanted to get into media. I think he wanted to work at ESPN. They wouldn't hire him. We did, and obviously the rest of the history with him.”
Portnoy: Chernin acquired 51% of Barstool at a $12.5M valuation
“So they, yeah, they valued the company at I think 12 and a half million wildly. I didn't know what I was doing. They really, that was too low, but whatever. That's what they valued it for. I think I got about, if I recall, three and a half million went to me p…”
Portnoy: Barstool rejects traditional media talent coaching as obsolete
“We don't do any of that. I would say all those people, anybody who tried to do what you just described, Subscribed would not fit with us, and I'd say is a dinosaur.”
Portnoy: Developing digital talent inherently leads to agent negotiations and departures
“It's the talent business where inherently we're trying to find new stars, build them up just so they can turn around, hire an agent, negotiate us. And then leave.”
Portnoy: Legacy network talent usually requires constant hand-holding
“Like, again, the people we've hired from networks, the talent, it's like they need their hand held for the most part.”
Portnoy: Barstool approaches media talent discovery like a record label
“No idea what would become with her podcast, but we were willing to take chances almost like a band label type model. It's like you hire this talent and you hope they hit. There's a lot of misses we have.”
Portnoy: Barstool Sports will focus on breaking even, not aggressive growth
“I want Barstool to be a place where we break even or make money.”
Portnoy: Barstool surpassed its 5-year $50M valuation target in six months
“The original business plan said in five years, they wanted to sell it for like fifty million. That was the original business plan, and we got past that in like six months.”
Portnoy: Creators on third-party platforms are far easier to de-platform
“If you're on someone else's platform, it's a lot easier to de-platform them because you have advertisers and somebody above who don't want to deal with the headache or anything like that”
Portnoy says he will never become a billionaire off Barstool
“I'm never gonna become like a billionaire off parcel unless someone pays it.”
Portnoy: Barstool could have easily inflated gross revenue before 2016 sale
“If I had a year to build up for that sale and I just wanted to inflate our gross revenue, I could have done that easily.”
Dave Portnoy says he took zero vacation days for 10 years building Barstool
“Built Barcelona, didn't take a vacation day for 10 years.”
Portnoy gave 10% to 12% of Barstool equity to early employees
“For the most part, yes, I had given away 10 to 12% of the company to my long-term employees.”