How Dev Portney bought Barstool Sports for $0

Hey dude,

You actually won’t believe this.

Dave Portnoy pulled off one of the craziest business moves ever.

He sold Barstool Sports for $550M… and then bought it back for $1.

Seriously, one dollar.

I’ll tell you exactly how this happened:

Barstool blew up over the years.

250M views a month, loads of fans, and a brand that stood out. 

In 2020, Penn Entertainment bought a chunk of it for $163M, and by 2023, they’d paid $550M to own the whole thing.

But Penn ran into trouble. 

Barstool’s edgy vibe didn’t mix well with gambling regulators, and the sportsbook side of the business wasn’t doing great.

So, they wanted out.

Enter Portnoy. 

He negotiated a deal to buy back 100% of Barstool for $1, with one catch: 

he’d stay out of the gambling space.

Now? He owns his company again. 

No investors. No outside drama. Just him, running Barstool his way.

If you want to take a look at the post yourself use this link.

When I first saw this, I couldn’t help but think:

This is exactly what makes business buying so powerful.

Most people think you have to build something from scratch to succeed. 

But look at what Portnoy did, he found a way to reclaim an already valuable asset without starting over.

And you don’t need to be some multi-millionaire CEO to do the same thing.

Right now, thousands of businesses are out there waiting for someone to take over. 

They’re already profitable, already established, but their owners are retiring, burnt out, or ready to move on.

Deals like these don’t require crazy amounts of money upfront. 

It’s about understanding how to spot them and structure them.

The truth is…

Buying a business isn’t just for people like Dave Portnoy.

You could do this too.

If you’re curious about how these deals actually work, I’ve got something for you.

Here’s where you can start learning about business buying.

You’d be surprised how much opportunity is out there when you know where to look.

Let me know what you think of this, just reply to this email.

Talk soon,

Dev Shah

P.S. Barstool’s story shows how business isn’t just about building, it’s about playing the right hand at the right time. 

Don’t wait for someone else to make the move you could make first.