I Am Stepping Down As CEO Of Barstool Sports
This is the email I sent to Barstool today and I wanted to share it with everyone. I cannot thank the Stoolies enough for coming along this journey with us. Viva La Stool.
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I am stepping down as CEO.
I was trying for awhile last night to capture everything we’ve done together and how much it’s meant to me but i don’t have the right words for it. Barstool is and has always been so many different things.
At the heart of it, i came here to work with Dave. I liked Dave instantly and I trusted him. Nearly a decade working with him gave me more to work on and work with than a lifetime anywhere else. I am forever changed by it and grateful for it. I learned a lot and got a chance to do so much. You have too. Barstool has always been and always will be what you put into it. There is no one better to make sure Barstool lasts far into the future in the way it was intended than Dave.
When I got here the mission was to be authentic, unapologetic and to grow 24/7 - to take on things bigger than who and what any of were or thought capable of. Expectations were low, assumptions of failure were probably high. We blew past our 5 year goals in 20 months. As of today, revenue has grown 5000% since July, 2016. In the same time period, audience grew even more. Out of mayhem we created maybe a miracle but most definitely a machine.
In 2016 we competed with Deadspin, lagged Bleacher Report, broke FBLive and Brett Merriman lived in my extra bedroom. We flew to Dallas and bought Old Row. In 2017 most days I fed Devlin half my lunch, shepherded Marina on the train and you podcasted. The office became 2 floors not one and we still spilled out of it. Ria and Fran took up residence in the merch closet. The conference room table was so cheap part of it would break if ever you put your elbow on it. We signed McAfee and opened his Indy office. The internet never worked. We had one control room and one functioning bathroom with a toilet that had a piss meter above it. We made it to Sirius, FB, Comedy Central and ESPN. We were summarily cancelled by 3 out of the 4. We tried to mainstream until it was obvious we couldn’t, so Barstool became it. We bought RNR.
In 2018 we tried Gold. We got bigger and bigger advertisers. We started to make Pink Whitney and found Biz to join Whit. We spent more and more time on social. I spent Christmas answering customer complaints about missing KFC quilted hoodies. We got money from Chernin to keep growing. Probably some of the best money they ever spent. We signed CHD. Paspa was repealed and it was obvious this was the way to create an exit.
2019 was a blur. I spent most of it with Dave trying to find a buyer for Barstool while also figuring out how to stay in stock on Unwell hoodies.
In 2020 we took the investment from Penn and agreed to the eventual sale in 2023. Then Barstool blew up over Covid. One because the content was good. Two because everybody we competed with couldn’t figure out how to work with just an iPhone and a computer or was too busy unionizing or ignoring their business. We found Deion in Covid, then Wallo and Gillie, then Brianna and gave them the same things as everyone else: protection, creative freedom and access to the best engine of culture on the internet. We launched the Barstool Fund and got $40M into the hands of small business owners. I spent Christmas crying at a video from a dry cleaner in Chicago.
The last two years was all Penn all the time. It was a balancing act and kindof an exercise in futility - trying to generate bets at the same time as protecting a pirate ship while also subtly contorting it to be something more predictable, pacifiable, and projectable to match with a casino company. In the last year we sold the company twice. First to Penn for $550M and then to Dave for $1. It seems insane and it was.
That’s a lot of trips around the sun but here we are again. Barstool is back as it should be. A pirate ship with Dave at the helm. Except this time around it has the benefit of all that everyone here has learned, done and all that you have seen. I did what I came here to do and more than I could have ever imagined and now it’s your turn to take it forward.
You built something extraordinary and one of a kind.
Thank you for giving me this chance to create something with you. It was once in a lifetime for me and I will be forever grateful.
You are also in the presence of greatness. Believe in it and keep making something with it. Gaz was Dave’s guy. I’d argue he knows more about social than most people in social and has built a world class team. I’d put our people up against anybody, anytime. Big Cat is a force. There are few bigger.His trajectory, work ethic and love of gym sports remains unmatched. Barstool has the biggest stars in sports, comedy and entertainment on the internet. It’s not a coincidence. Riggs covered politics when I met him now he golfs with Tiger. Hank was silent but also silently becoming a super producer. Frankie made pizzas with his dad. I think Ria was a pharmacy tech. Dana was trying to win free suits from Milton’s. All of you are so, so, so much more than when you and we started together. There is so much talent in this house. Not just in content but in production, graphics, merch, social, finance, legal, sales, account management - everywhere. Use it. This is a strong team.
And now it’s about the team, the team, the team. Be good to one another and to this thing we all built. I always wanted everyone to feel ok and that everything was loosely under control and that no matter how fucked up things were, we would figure it out. Now you need to do this for each other. Or not. Turn the cameras on regardless.
Lastly a huge thank you. Thank you for making me laugh! Thank you for letting me learn with you. Thank you for being so willing to put yourselves out there, to try new things, embrace new people, new problems and new possibilities. Thank you for being willing to fail, to push harder, to persevere and to build something no one thought you could in a way that no one else can.
My time at Barstool will forever inspire me. I gave you my all. Thank you for giving me so much more.