Dave Portnoy's Net Worth (Updated 2022) | Wealthy Gorilla

Net Worth:	$120 Million
Age:	48
Born:	March 22, 1977
Gender:	Male
Height:	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Country of Origin:	United States of America
Source of Wealth:	Entrepreneur
Last Updated:	Jan 1, 2026

Introduction

Dave Portnoy is an American entrepreneur and sports media personality with an estimated net worth of $120 Million.

Portnoy has earned his fortune by founding Barstool Sports. He founded the company in 2003 as a print publication, and over the years, it’s grown into an unlikely sports media powerhouse.

Early Life

David “Dave” Portnoy was born on the 22nd of March, 1977, in Massachusetts.

Portnoy is the son of Michael and Linda and he attended Swampscott High School.

In 1995, Portnoy began to attend the University of Michigan. He later graduated with a degree in education.

Career

While Dave Portnoy was studying at the University of Michigan for a degree in education, he founded TheGamblingMan, a sports betting website.

He used the website to publish his picks each week, a forerunner of his move into sports media and online newspapers.

After he graduated from university, Portnoy was hired by an IT market research firm called the Yankee Group, a subsidiary of Reuters Enterprise.

In 2004, Portnoy founded Barstool Sports, a 4-page newspaper that was aimed at young men in Boston who rejected political correctness.

The newspaper was handed out at train stations and street corners and attracted advertisers like PartyPoker, which was operating illegally in the USA.

After a rocky start, Portnoy hired another writer and started placing pictures of scantily clad women on the front page.

In 2017, Dave attended the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Red Carpet event where some of the richest models in the world reviewed various pizza slices.

Barstool Sports Evolved Into A Prominent Media Company

By 2007, he expanded to include a blog with a mixture of sports, women in bikinis, and betting, ensuring that the business stayed afloat.

Barstool Sports has evolved into a prominent sports and popular culture media company with Portnoy cultivating a bro-culture persona, calling himself “El Presidente”.

Seeing that print media was dying, Portnoy’s transition from print media to online, broadening the company’s digital presence, was a prescient move.

The candid and boldly male-oriented reporting established Barstool Sports as a distinct and relatable media organization, resonating with its target audience of young men.

By 2016, Barstool’s growth made it a viable player in the sports media market and The Chernin Group acquired a majority stake in the business.

Now that Portnoy had made a name for himself and with the backing of a major player in the industry, Portnoy was able to significantly increase the publication’s reach.

Moved The Headquarters To New York City

The company’s headquarters were moved to New York City but by 2020, Penn Entertainment was showing an interest in the business.

They acquired a 36% stake in Barstool Sports that year, paying $163 million, and illustrating the significant valuation increase made in just four years.

It was just 3 years later when Penn Entertainment completed its 100% acquisition of Barstool, paying $388 million in 2023 for the remaining shares.

However, in a strange turn of fate, Penn Entertainment then agreed to sell the company back to Portnoy for a nominal $1.

The deal was the result of a massive deal with ESPN, with Penn Entertainment rebranding the online sports-betting business from Barstool Sportsbook to ESPN Bet.

Penn Entertainment agreed to sell Barstool back to Portnoy with the proviso that they share 50% of the profits of any future sale agreement.

Promises To Never Sell Barstool Sports Again

Portnoy reportedly told the media that he would never, under any circumstances, part with Barstool Sports at any time in the future.

The deal with ESPN left Penn Entertainment with a cash payment of $1.5 billion to ESPN as well as $500 million in warrants.

Penn Entertainment had 10 years in which to pay off the purchase price, with 31.8 million Penn common shares being exchanged for various rights.

The following year, Portnoy launched a pizza review series called “One Bite With Davey Pageviews”, reviewing pizza from around the world.

Portnoy’s business originally started as a contest among his friends but grew into a business when it became massively popular.

Not only did he eat a slice of pizza each, reviewing each establishment, but he also claimed that the practice had led to him losing weight.

Making Waves In Massachusetts

The show was not without its drama, as he got into a heated argument with the owner of Dragon Pizza, Charlie Redd, in Massachusetts.

Charlie didn’t take kindly to having his pizza described as a floppy mess and the ensuing argument was a spicy affair for the viewers.

This did wonders for the show, and it continued to attract a wide audience, especially when Portnoy invited celebrities onto the show.

Portnoy also hosted the first One Bite Pizza Festival in 2023 in Brooklyn, engaging with his audience and further cementing Barstool’s influence.

While Portnoy isn’t targeting the most expensive pizza in the world, no pizza establishment is safe from his roving eye.

Jailed For A Publicity Stunt

In another publicity stunt, Portnoy was detained in a Mercedes-Benz Stadium holding cell for a portion of Super Bowl LIII.

Portnoy was prohibited from attending the game following a stunt involving fake passes at a press event on the day prior to the Super Bowl.

He remains a polarizing character due to his outspoken, conservative views as well as his vocal support for Donald Trump and his 2015 presidential campaign.

Portnoy ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign in Boston in 2013, and is an outspoken critic of liberal, Democrat policies and lawmakers.

In an attack on Taylor Swift, Barstool Sports made disparaging remarks on their popular podcast, Pardon My Take, requesting that she not attend NFL games.

It seems that Portnoy will continue to attract attention using whatever publicity stunts he can to maintain interest in his company.