Dave Portnoy threatens to pull Barstool from NYC – Business News
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is threatening to close the company’s Manhattan workplace as a result of of Zohran Mamdani’s election, saying he hates the inexperienced, “Communist” pol and warning that the mayor-elect will wreck the business climate.
Portnoy made the feedback during a YouTube livestream final week, amid expectations Mamdani would defeat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo within the Nov. 4 election.
“I hate the guy,” Portnoy mentioned of Mamdani. “I can’t stand the thought of him working New York City. I can’t stand it.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is threatening to transfer his media empire out of Manhattan. Icon Sportswire through Getty Images
“Thirty-something-year-old Communist running New York City who’s never had a job in his life, hates America — doesn’t seem like the best.”
Portnoy, 48, weighed the professionals and cons of getting out of Manhattan during Mamdani’s reign.
“Honestly, I’ve given that a lot of thought — he’s definitely going to win — going to Hoboken or Jersey City or something,” Portnoy mentioned.
“I don’t want to f–king have an office [in Manhattan]. But then we have all those people who, like, that f–ks up their life because I hate the guy. Like, all the people in the New York office have to go to Jersey City or … Hoboken. So it’s a Catch-22.”
Still, Portnoy indicated he’s significantly weighing an exit.
“A part of me is like, how much will actually change? But I really have given it thought,” he mentioned. “I told our finance guys to start looking around for property, no joke. Take a principled stand.”
After networks projected Mamdani, 34, because the winner on Tuesday night time, Portnoy posted on X, “Thank god I don’t live there anymore.”
Portnoy’s frustration with the new mayor has been building for months.
Portnoy has referred to as 34-year-old Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani a “Communist” whereas warning that his administration will wreck the town’s business climate. AFP through Getty Images
In a July look on Fox Business, he warned that Mamdani “hates capitalism” and would “blame the victims of 9/11 rather than the terrorists.”
“It’s a very scary time,” he mentioned. “I can’t believe that this guy may be the mayor of New York City. He’s closer to a Communist.”
Barstool, which Portnoy based in 2003 in Massachusetts, has maintained a main workplace in Manhattan even after relocating many of its operations to Chicago. The company was value about $600 million as of 2023.
Mamdani, a New York state assemblyman who was born in Uganda and describes himself as a Democratic socialist, ran on a platform of rent freezes, city-run grocery shops and expanded public housing — measures that critics say will cripple investment and drive employers out.
His victory appeared to mark a beautiful political shift for New York, the place business leaders rallied behind Cuomo, who ran as an unbiased.
Portnoy has floated the likelihood of Barstool Sports relocating to Hoboken, NJ (above). Phamous Philmz – stock.adobe.com
Portnoy additionally recommended that the company might look at taking up workplace space in Jersey City. VideoFlow – stock.adobe.com
Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman, who sparred with Mamdani on social media during the marketing campaign, congratulated the mayor-elect on X.
“Now you have a big responsibility,” Ackman wrote. “If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.”
The post was panned by business moguls — significantly in gentle of the hedge fund supervisor’s appreciable spending in hopes of knocking out Mamdani.
Kathryn Wylde, outgoing CEO of the Partnership for New York City, took Ackman to job for his flip-flopping. But she herself struck a conciliatory tone with Mamdani, saying her group seemed ahead to serving to him “achieve his affordability goals while keeping New York competitive as a destination for talent and a generator of jobs.”
Barstool, based in 2003 in Massachusetts, has maintained a main workplace in Manhattan even after relocating many of its operations to Chicago. Bloomberg through Getty Images
Other executives had been more important. Palantir CEO Alex Karp informed CNBC, “We’re about to probably have a complete disaster. I was born in New York.”
Portnoy mentioned he’s torn between his political opposition to Mamdani and his concern for workers based mostly in New York.
“If it was just me, I would move the company out of New York City because I hate this guy so much,” Portnoy mentioned in one other podcast look.
“But I won’t because there’s a lot of people in New York, and I don’t want to change their lifestyle for it.”
The Post has sought remark from Mamdani.
