David Portnoy, the outspoken founder of Barstool Sports, is once again the owner of his media brand, after buying it back from Penn Entertainment.
The value of the deal, which was announced on Tuesday, was not immediately known. Barstool Sports was valued at $606 million in February, when Penn bought the rest of the company it didn’t already own. Penn became a minority owner in 2020.
Portnoy, who founded Barstool Sports in 2003, said in a post on Tuesday that Penn and Barstool had “gone our separate ways.” Penn said the divestiture was completed in exchange for “non-compete and other restrictive covenants.”
Penn sold Barstool at the same time that it announced an online sports-betting deal with Disney-owned ESPN. That disclosure sent Penn shares up more than 15% in after-hours trading.
Penn will have the right to 50% of the gross proceeds in the event that Portnoy sells or monetizes Barstool, the release said.
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