Dave Portnoy Net Worth 2023
How much is Dave Portnoy Worth?
Dave Portnoy is an American internet personality, well-known as the Barstool Sports founder, a pop culture media company based in New York City. As of 2023, Dave Portnoy net worth is estimated at $120 million, mostly made from managing Barstool Sports and acquiring more stakes. His pop culture blog also bears the same name.
Famous quotes by Dave Portnoy include:
- “You judge a pizza place on their cheese slice.”
- “I want to make a boatload of money and I want to poof and maybe make it on the senior tour, live on islands, get a bigger Nantucket house.”
- “We have this fanatical fan base that wants to see us succeed, and so they get it. They get that to get the free content and all of the things we’re doing – whether it be the blog, the podcasts, whatever – we need money. We need advertising. If you want us to go hire Michael Rapaport, well guess what, we need revenue to do that.”
|
Dave Portnoy |
|
| Age | 45 |
| Full name | David Scott Portnoy |
| Born | Swampscott, Massachusetts |
| Education | University of Michigan (BS) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Source of Wealth | Barstool Sports, Diversified Portfolio |
| Relationship status | Married to Renee Satherthwaite (m. 2009) |
| Net worth | $120 million |
| Height | 5’10 |
| Weight | 179 lbs |
| Last updated | February 2023 |
How much money does Dave Portnoy make?
Here is an overview and rough estimate of Dave Portnoy salary, to include monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly income. Please keep in mind that the amount of money that he earns is taxable; in which, he falls under the highest tax bracket. Thus, financial planning plays a key role in establishing both short and long-term goals along the path to building wealth.
- Annual Income: $16 million
- Monthly Income: $1,333,000
- Weekly Income: $308,000
- Daily Income: $49,000
- Hourly Income: $1,800
How did Dave Portnoy get rich?
Dave Portnoy was able to get rich by developing multiple streams of income from his earnings as the original Barstool Sports owner.
Dave Portnoy Biography
Who is Dave Portnoy? Born and raised in Swampscott, Massachusetts on March 22, 1977 (age 45), David Scott Portnoy held a deep love for sports as a young high schooler. Dave played football and baseball at the local high school, later attending the sports-oriented University of Michigan despite not playing as much. After graduating with a degree in education in 1999, he moved to Boston and found a job with a local IT research firm.
While working there, he realized something that would propel him to the success he enjoys today. Despite taking off in the early 2000s, thanks to the internet, sports betting still had a sizeable gap to fill. The few publications, print or online, about betting were less of the actual content and more of gambling ads. Seeing this, he seized the chance to create something new.
Is Dave Portnoy married? Renee Satherthwaite is the lady known to be David Portnoy wife. The two tied the knot back in 2009; however, the latest news is unclear whether they are still separated or divorced.
What is Barstool Sports?
David Portnoy founded Barstool Sports in 2003, then a local print publication serving the Boston metro area. He and a few close colleagues, including famous sports commentator Todd McShay (who attended the same high school as Portnoy), would write about betting and fantasy sports. Portnoy would hand over copies of their paper in Boston’s train stations personally.
People who have read a copy, let alone met the man, began to see his passion for sports betting. The publication slowly picked up steam, remaining strong even as it made the jump to digital in 2007 with its website’s debut. By 2013, Barstool Sports was 100% online, attracting as many as a million unique visitors every month.
Essentially, his work ethic is somewhere along the lines of doing his own thing. He never asked why it was the case; in his words, “that’s just how my brain worked.” Keep in mind that this is still the early 2000s, where things like social media and crowdfunding have yet to be widespread. The brand had to prove itself to be worthy of investments from readers and businesses alike.
However, doing his own thing also extended to the kind of persona he wanted people to see. His bold and unapologetic attitude became a mainstay of the then-growing “bro culture.” As a result, he gained the moniker of El Presidente, unafraid of whatever life throws at him. Naturally, such behavior led him to trouble one too many times.
One such instance happened in 2015 at the height of the Deflategate scandal. Portnoy and three Barstool Sports colleagues were detained to protest the NFL’s sanctions against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. They handcuffed themselves to the floor of the NFL headquarters in hopes of getting the attention of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Another incident was in 2019, where Portnoy was issued a trespassing warning for possessing fake media passes to attend a pre-Super Bowl LIII press event. Stadium security kicked him out during the halftime game, warning him that he would face jail time if he tried sneaking in again.
Nevertheless, El Presidente’s gaze is on bigger, better things. Barstool Sports grew in popularity despite his attitude, with 2016 netting the website a record-breaking eight million unique visitors monthly. The same year, it gets a major infusion of capital.
Portnoy announced in a press conference that The Chernin Group, a multi-stage private equity firm that invests in media and entertainment brands, bought 51% of Barstool Sports’ stake or between USD$ 10 million and USD$ 15 million. Portnoy retained control over the website and the creative content it constantly produces. Meanwhile, former AOL CMO Erika Nardini was named Barstool Sports’ CEO. Later, the company moved from Boston to New York City.
He’s not afraid to speak his mind out, especially about the acquisition. In that press conference, while he welcomed the move, he said he was somewhat ticked off that the valuation was based on revenue instead of profit. Conversely, he admitted that he didn’t expect someone as big of a company as The Chernin Group would ever think about investing in Barstool Sports. The most important tidbit is at the end, where he summarized it by saying, “I’m kinda rich now.”
At this point, Barstool Sports isn’t just about sports betting anymore. The acquisition allowed the website to expand to other categories and media, including podcasts, merchandise, and even TV shows. Portnoy continued making new ideas for the website, one of which was One Bite With Davey Pageviews. Its purpose was to review all sorts of pizza from restaurants in Manhattan, later across the U.S., sometimes alongside featured celebrity guests.
Aside from being successful enough to keep it running to this day, the show also led Portnoy to develop a peculiar eating habit. He would eat a slice of pizza instead of the entire box, helping him shave off several pounds. During National Pizza Day in 2018, he came up with the quote mentioned earlier, judging pizza places by their cheese slices.
In 2020, with sports betting popularity at an all-time high, Portnoy and Barstool Sports was in the spotlight of another investor: Penn National Gaming. As per this arrangement, both The Chernin Group and Penn National Gaming would have an equal stake at Barstool Sports. Like the previous acquisition, Portnoy still retained control over the brand’s creative content.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Portnoy initiated the Barstool Fund in cooperation with the Virginia-based nonprofit 30-Day Fund. He donated $500,000 to the cause to help small businesses that were greatly affected by the pandemic. As of this writing, the fund has raised more than $41 million from over 230,000 donors, supporting more than 400 businesses.
Sources
Dave Portnoy interview at DailyWire
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy at Business Insider
