Days after warning Barstool Sports staff to “step it up”, owner Dave Portnoy has agreed to lay off 25% of the company’s staff. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy less tactfully told his staff to “step up” just days before his company was to cut 25% of its staff.
News of the mass Barstool job cuts broke Tuesday, just weeks after Portnoy bought Barstool back from Penn Entertainment for $1. One of the employees who were let go, Barstool Chicago employee Hannah Tran, took to Twitter two days later to share her dismissal:
Portnoy used his Sportsbook podcast earlier this week to say he hates firing people, though listeners wouldn’t tell from the vitriol in his voice. Despite warning listeners that “layoffs and cutbacks” were coming, he said that firing employees was “the worst thing an f-king would do”, while at the same time mocking an employee for being upset over a colleague’s layoff.
Penn v. Portnoy: A Culture Conflict
According to Thursday New York PostBarstool currently has around 430 employees. the mail He stated that 300 employees had joined sports betting since Penn’s acquisition of Barstool for a total of $551 million in 2020, until the two brands parted ways in early August.
The shock culture did not translate into the mass appeal that Penn wanted
Like the FOX Bet, the recently departed offspring of the toxic partnership between Fox and Flutter, the discordant Penn-Portnoy combination was a word go. Barstool’s shocking culture didn’t translate into the mass appeal Penn wanted, as allegations of “rough sex” against Portnoy in November 2021 sent Penn shares plummeting.
What then?
As the dust settles, Ben expects to deposit up to $850 million by returning the bar stool to Portnoy. However, this loss may have dampened the prospects of a new deal to rebrand the Pennsylvania sports betting business with ESPN.
Meanwhile, Portnoy tried to rally his staff before the job cuts, by encouraging them to “go back to the pirate ship”, and promising never to sell Barstool again. If his motivational style at all reflects his stance in his videos on layoffs, it will take a huge effort to boost morale.
