David Scott Portnoy (born March 22, 1977) is an American internet celebrity, blogger, and founder of the sports and pop culture blog Barstool Sports.
Loved sports and pizza from the time he was a kid
Played competitive baseball until he was badly injured
Started a newspaper in Called “Barstool Sports”
He knew he never wanted to work a desk job so he worked to expand barstool
Barstool has grown to a huge organization with people who do podcasts, sports talks and sports news
Started doing pizza reviews for fun, now one of the most popular barstool series
Used his passions to make himself rich and successful
Portnoy grew up in Swampscott, Massachusetts, where he attended Swampscott High School. One of his classmates was ESPN's Todd McShay.
Portnoy began attending the University of Michigan in 1995, graduating with a degree in education.
At one point in his life Dave Portnoy considered himself poor, it is safe to say he is past that point now. In Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, who is still the company's best-known talent, sold a majority stake in his company to The Chernin Group for a reported $10 million in 2016; in 2018, Chernin put another $15 million into the company at a reported valuation of more than $100 million. IN 2020 Dave Portnoy continued to make money from this company, selling stake in the company to Penn National. Penn National will first buy a 36 percent stake in Barstool for $163 million in cash and stock — valuing the company at $450 million. Three years later, the casino company will pay another $62 million to bring its stake to 50 percent, with the ability to buy controlling ownership for an amount to be determined at the time.
On January 29, 2020, it was announced that Penn National Gaming had purchased a 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $163 million, giving the company a valuation of $450 million. In three years, Penn National, with a market value of roughly $3 billion, will increase its stake to around 50% for a payment of $62 million. Penn National and Barstool have options that kick in then that would increase the casino company's stake to control or full ownership, based on fair market value at the time. Following the sale, The Chernin Group maintained a 36% stake in the company.
David Portnoy has described the site's topics as "sports/smut." The site contains a mixture of podcasts, blogs, and video series featuring company staff in what has been described as "a sort of online reality show: Every office argument and personal-life development was written up and fed to a growing legion of 'Stoolies'.