David Portnoy

After university, Portnoy moved to Boston and began working at Yankee Group, an IT market research firm.[4] In 2004, Portnoy left the Yankee Group and founded Barstool Sports.[4] The early iteration of Barstool was a four-page sports newspaper that Portnoy handed out on subway platforms and street corners in Boston.[11][10] The paper was meant to appeal to young men and rejected political correctness.[10] Early advertisers in the newspaper included offshore betting websites such as partypoker, which was operating in the United States illegally.[10] The contents of the newspaper was originally solely written by Portnoy, but freelance writers, including Todd McShay, joined the paper.[11] At first, the paper struggled, but gained traction in 2004 when Portnoy began placing photos of women in bikinis on the front page of the newspaper.[10] In 2007, Barstool expanded to a blog.[11]

Portnoy gradually cultivated his persona as "El Presidente", a blunt and candid character.[12] His writing was well-received among young men and the publication subsequently became a mainstay of bro culture.[12] He became known for his unapologetic and brash attitude.

Peter Chernin's The Chernin Group purchased a majority stake of Barstool in January 2016. In 2020, Penn Entertainment purchased a 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $163 million, including $135 million in cash and $28 million in Penn non-voting convertible preferred stock. Penn acquired the remainder of the company in February 2023 for $388 million.[13][14][15] Portnoy re-purchased Barstool in August 2023 for one dollar, non-compete agreements in the gambling space, and a clause that if Barstool were to be sold again Penn Entertainment would take 50%. [16]

One Bite Pizza Reviews is an internet show by Portnoy, in which he reviews pizza from restaurants around the world, ranking it on a scale of 0–10. Portnoy began his show with the goal of reviewing every pizza place in Manhattan in 2017. In addition to Portnoy, some reviews feature celebrity guests.[17] Portnoy rarely ranks a pizza above 9.0, but some of those he praised have experienced a transformative growth in popularity, going "viral, becoming a can't-miss attraction for legions of young, loud, and often inebriated Barstool diehards."[18]

In August 2023, Portnoy was involved in an altercation with Charlie Redd, the owner of Dragon Pizza in Somerville, Massachusetts, after criticizing the pizzeria's pizza as "a floppy mess."[19] Portnoy and Redd then entered into an expletive-laden exchange.[19]

Portnoy and Barstool Sports hosted first inaugural One Bite Pizza Festival in September 2023 in Brooklyn, New York.[19]

In 2013, Portnoy launched an unsuccessful campaign to become the mayor of Boston following the retirement of mayor Thomas Menino.[22] During the race, Portnoy identified as a libertarian.[23] After raising more than $17,000 in campaign contributions, he failed to submit enough nomination signatures to qualify for the ballot.[24]

Portnoy has twice been detained in NFL-related incidents. On May 12, 2015, Portnoy was arrested after he and three Barstool employees handcuffed themselves to each other on the floor of NFL headquarters in Manhattan and demanded to speak with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to protest Deflategate.[6][30] and again in 2019 when he was placed in a holding cell at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a portion of Super Bowl LIII. In the latter incident, he had created fake passes to attend a press event the day prior and was prohibited from attending the game.[31][32]

The National Labor Relations Board investigated Portnoy in 2019 for posts on Twitter on charges that he illegally threatened to fire his workers if they unionized.[33] That December, Portnoy reached an informal settlement with the Board, which required him to delete his threatening tweets and remove any potential anti-union material created by Barstool Sports. The settlement also noted that the Twitter account originally encouraging employees to unionize was actually owned by Barstool in an attempt to out labor organizers.[34][35]

In 2004, Portnoy filed for bankruptcy protection, following large gambling losses.[10] He owed $59,000 to credit card companies and $18,000 to his father.[10] In January 2020, a tax lien for $11,795 was filed against Portnoy by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[10]

In November 2021, a Business Insider exposé alleged that Portnoy had engaged in violent and aggressive sexual encounters with three young women and that he had filmed the women without their consent.[36] He denied that the sex was nonconsensual.[37] Portnoy called the article a "hit piece," claiming that Business Insider tried to find evidence of wrongdoing from him for approximately eight months.[38]

In early February 2022, more sexual assault and harassment claims by young women were published in a second Business Insider article.[39] After these new allegations were made, Portnoy announced a lawsuit against the publication. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in November 2022.[40][41] Portnoy filed an appeal of the dismissal. In February 2023, he dropped his appeal.[42]