After buying back his bro-centric sports site from Penn Entertainment for $1, Barstool Sports chief Dave Portnoy admitted this week that layoffs were underway because the company was “losing a lot and it sucks.” Having paid $551 million to acquire Barstool, Penn Entertainment claimed it lost upwards of $850 million on the deal, which it hoped would boost its sports betting business. After ditching Bartsool, the gambling and sports entertainment company partnered with ESPN in a $1.5 billion deal to rebrand its sportsbooks. “I’ve been very clear. Anybody that’s paid attention, we are going to have layoffs and cuts, and they’ve started, and it sucks,” Portnoy said on Barstool Radio this week, adding: “Having said that, we’re in a position it’s a no-brainer… so we have to get back to a break-even thing. We’re losing a lot, and it sucks.” While Portnoy initially called Penn bailing on Barstool a “win-win” because “we don’t have to watch what we say” anymore, he told remaining employees this week that they will need to do more with less. “People need to step the fuck up,” he declared.
