Penn National Falls After Business Insider Report on Portnoy

(Bloomberg) -- Penn National Gaming Inc. fell to its lowest level in a year after a Business Insider report citing several women it didn’t name alleging sexual misconduct by Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports. Penn bought a 36% stake in Portnoy’s Barstool Sports in January 2020.

Shares of Penn, which has an agreement to buy the rest of Barstool, tumbled 21% closing at $57.40 on Thursday, wiping out some $2.5 billion in market value. The stock had already tumbled earlier in the session after the company missed on some profit measures on its quarterly report.

Portnoy denied allegations of sexual misconduct made against him in two videos posted on social media, saying the two encounters described were both consensual. When contacted via e-mail a Penn representative said “the company takes this matter seriously” and it’s still “gathering facts.” In a separate email, Barstool said the report does not involve workplace behavior. “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on the private lives of our employees,” the company said. “But we take this matter seriously and are monitoring it closely.” 

Penn, a casino operator, has been using the Barstool brand to roll out sports betting offerings across the country, as well licensing it for food delivery and other products.

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