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Barstool’s Portnoy Rattles Investors Saying He’s Sick

Barstool’s Portnoy Rattles Investors Saying He’s Sick

Barstool Sports founder and cult retail investing figure Dave Portnoy posted a bedridden video saying he was sick -- possibly with coronavirus -- sending shares of backer Penn National Gaming Inc. sliding on Wednesday.

Portnoy said he hasn’t left his bed in 40 hours. “Do I have Covid? Maybe,” he said in the video, which was posted to social media. “I’m just going to get better, so I can come back and do what I do, which is to entertain you.”

Penn National, a casino operator that’s been making a bigger push into sports betting, acquired a 36% interest in Barstool for about $163 million in cash and convertible preferred stock in January.

Penn National’s stock had more than doubled this year through Tuesday. The video sent the shares lower as much as 2.5% and the stock closed Wednesday down 1.2% to $54.73.

Barstool is a key piece of its expansion plan. Penn National CEO Jay Snowden reiterated earlier this month that the Barstool app should launch in Pennsylvania in September and said other states would launch in fourth quarter of this year and first quarter of 2021 is on track.

Portnoy posted the video to explain to his followers why he didn’t post his live streamed day trading this morning. During quarantine, millions of Americans stuck at home with little to do have turned to investing and trading for the first time, including Portnoy, whose live stream show reaches millions of his followers. He tweeted last week about his interest in crypto.

He’s long been a polarizing figure for his role as founder of Barstool, which has a strong following of mostly young men, but some consider sexist. Now, Portnoy has also become a polarizing figure in the financial community as many of his followers, called “stoolies,” have ridden the massive recovery in equities. Some have criticized Portnoy for his brashness, touting riskier stocks to his followers and calling Warren Buffett “washed up.”

In a follow up video Wednesday, Portnoy said he was confident he’d make a full recovery and that it would take the “National Guard to get me out of here,” as he put it.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.