- Billionaire investor Ron Baron said that Penn National’s investment in Barstool Sports will be “worth a ton”
In an interview with CNBC, billionaire investor Ron Baron said that Penn National’s investment in Barstool Sports will be “worth a ton.” And Baron said that Penn National deal for Barstool will bring more people to the company’s casinos.
“Not only are they going to make a lot of money on this investment for this $150 million and buy the rest of it out from the founder, but also it’s going to increase the traffic in their casinos,” said Baron via CNBC. “It’s going to be worth a ton.”
Penn National is buying a 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $163 million. And Penn National is launching a Barstool Sportsbook brand. This deal values Barstool Sports at $450 million.
The fund run by Baron — which is known as Baron Funds — has an 8.6% stake in Penn National. Baron Funds has about $27 billion in assets under management.
Barstool is known for its massive audience of millennial sports fans. And last year, the company set up a content hub for gamblers. Barstool CEO Erika Nardini and founder Dave Portnoy set up the hub in order to build a large database of bettors so it can attract additional revenue from ads and affiliate referrals.
Prior to making a deal with Penn, the company held talks with FanDuel and PointsBet. The Chernin Group owned 60% of Barstool Sports before the Penn deal closed. The Chernin Group’s stake will be lower following the deal with Penn.
This deal also includes a plan for Penn to invest $62 million in Barstool after three years. And Penn is going to increase its stake in Barstool to about 50%.
