Portnoy’s Tough Approach to Layoffs: The owner of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, recently repurchased the company for $1. Now, he’s beginning to eliminate employment. It has been reported that nearly 100 people may lose their employment.
In a video, Dave Portnoy discussed layoffs, but he did not specify how many individuals would be affected. Prior to these reductions, Barstool had approximately 430 workers.
Although we anticipated some layoffs when Dave assumed leadership, we did not anticipate this magnitude.
Penn Entertainment resold Barstool to Portnoy after reaching an agreement with ESPN to alter their online sports-betting business.
Penn stated in a document sent to the government (SEC) that Barstool lost $16.1 million in the first half of the year, which Portnoy did not disclose.
Penn stated that it anticipated a total loss of up to $850 million by returning Barstool to its proprietor. Portnoy defended the layoffs in a video posted to Barstool’s YouTube channel, stating, “We have to get back to break-even. We’re losing a bunch, which stinks.”
Portnoy’s Tough Approach to Layoffs
Some people compared Portnoy’s tough demeanour in the video to Elon Musk’s behaviour when he first seized control of Twitter. Back then, Musk laid off a number of employees and told those who remained to work extremely hard.
Portnoy made fun of an employee who was concerned about a coworker’s employment loss and stated that the remaining employees must work much harder. He also stated that after the redundancies, many individuals would be willing to work for nothing.
“I will be inundated with notes stating that I will replace everyone,” he said.
Report: Barstool Sports braces for major layoffs https://t.co/zPcrT3jcne pic.twitter.com/OvTWVYmCdo
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 30, 2023
It appears that the reductions primarily affected remote workers. Barstool wants to return to its manner of producing controversial reality television, similar to TMZ, where they discuss a wide range of topics, including sports and adult content, and even air office arguments.
Even though there have been layoffs and personnel reductions, Portnoy believes he can turn things around and return the site to its previous status.
Portnoy stated earlier this month, “I can regain control of this situation; it may take a few months to get things back to the point where we’re not getting f***ing smoked, but I believe I can make this a pleasant place to work,”
Portnoy has never been uncomfortable in the limelight. Two years ago, after claiming to have lost $700,000 in meme stocks, Portnoy became implicated in the Robinhood scandal.
He referred to the CEO of that stock trading company as a “rat” and a “liar” before challenging him to a livestreamed debate. He also commented on the indictment of Donald Trump earlier this year.
He wrote, “Anyone who believes going after Trump for paying a p*rn star to keep her mouth shut about an old affair is a good use of time or taxpayer dollars is a political pawn and cannot be relied upon to give a balanced opinion,” He teased that he would run for president in 2021, but he never actually did.
