Penn Entertainment is taking over the rest of Barstool Sports.
According to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Wednesday, the casino operator took full control of the sports website founded by the controversial media tycoon Dave Portnoy. The purchase of the remaining Barstool share is expected to be completed by February 2023.
In 2020 the company purchased 36% of the website for $163 million in a deal that combined sports gambling and online media. The deal stipulated that Penn could buy the remaining shares via a two-step process for $387 million.
The Sportsbook app, known as Penn National Gaming, was launched by Barstool and claims to have reached a younger audience. In February 2021, Penn revealed it gained over 72,000 registered customers in Pennsylvania after the app launched, which generated nearly $300 million.
The acquisition of Barstool was another purchase by Penn to solidify its standing in the pop culture, media, and gambling space. The company purchased TheScore, a Canadian-based digital media company, for $2 billion a year ago.
Barstool has a large audience of young college-aged individuals that have allowed it to thrive as an entertainment icon. The company made a deal to have streaming rights for Major League Baseball games.
Barstool was founded in 2003 by Portnoy and is headquartered in New York City. Before the Penn buyout, the Chernin Group was the second-largest stockholder in the company.