Barstool Sports has been sold to Penn Entertainment Inc.
Penn paid about $388 million for the remaining stake in Barstool Sports that it doesn’t already own, the sports and entertainment company said Friday.
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Penn and Barstool Sports first announced an exclusive sports betting and iCasino partnership in early 2020. Penn took a 36% stake of Barstool Sports in February 2020 for approximately $163 million, comprised of about $135 million in cash and $28 million in non-voting convertible preferred stock.
The initial deal included a path for Penn to gain full ownership of Barstool Sports.
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Barstool was founded in 2003 by Dave Portnoy as a free sports and gambling newspaper. It is now a digital platform that covers sports, lifestyle, and entertainment with more than 200 million followers.
“Barstool is a proven, powerful media brand with an authentic voice and vast, loyal audience that provides us with a strong top of funnel for new customer acquisition and organic cross-selling opportunities across our growing interactive division,” Penn Entertainment Inc. CEO Jay Snowden said in a statement on Friday.