Founder of Barstool Sports David Portnoy has threatened to move the company’s headquarters out of New York City if the Social Democrats Zohran Mamdani claims victory in the November 4 mayoral elections.
Portnoy, 48, who has an estimated net worth of around $250 million, founded Barstool Sports in 2003 in his home state of Massachusetts; However, the company has been based in New York City for several years.
But the entrepreneur and podcast host has now admitted that he has started looking at other potential locations for his business, valued at around $600 million in 2023, although he admitted he would hate to make a change that would negatively affect his employees.
“If it were just me, I would move the company out of New York City because I hate this guy so much,” Portnoy said during a live broadcast on Barstool’s “The Unnamed Show” podcast.
“But I won’t do it because there are a lot of people in New York and I don’t want to change their lifestyle because of that.”
It’s not the first time Portnoy has hinted at plans to flee the Big Apple, revealing in a recent livestream that he had considered Jersey City or Hoboken as alternative locations for Barstool HQ, which is currently based in an office in Manhattan.
“Honestly, I’ve thought about it a lot, and he’s definitely going to win, like Hoboken or Jersey City or something…” Portnoy said when asked where Barstool would move if or when Mamdani wins.
However, once again Portnoy said any plan to escape Manhattan is complicated by the fact that many of his employees are located in and around New York.
“But then we have all these people who say they’re ruining their lives just 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,” he added, according to Whiskey Riff.
However, Portnoy hasn’t completely abandoned the idea of ​​closing his New York City office and moving, revealing that he has asked his “finance guy” to start looking at properties elsewhere.
“Maybe I’ll close the New York office. Believe me, I’ve thought about it a lot. Because I can’t stand the thought of Mamdani running fucking New York City. I can’t stand it. But then part of me wonders: How much will it really change?”
“But I’ve really thought about it. I told our finance guy to start looking at properties. No joke. Take a principled stand. A 30-something communist who runs New York City and has never had a job in his life, hates America, doesn’t seem like the best.”
Portnoy has been an open critic of Mamdani, 34, for months, telling Fox News in July that he believed in the candidate, who is now the clear favorite in the race against the Republicans. Curtis Sliwa and independent andres cuomo—”hates capitalism” and would cause damage to New York’s economy.
“It’s a very scary time,” Portnoy said. “I can’t believe this guy could be the mayor of New York City.
“This is one of the worst and scariest candidates. He calls himself a democratic socialist, but he’s not, he’s a socialist. He’s closer to a communist. He said it, he’s officially saying he wants to put as many socialists in power so he can take over the means of production.”
Although his company is located in New York (for now), Portnoy himself has long resided outside the city and spends his time traveling between his many homes, which are in Florida, Massachusetts, where he was born and raised, and the Hamptons.
Recently, the Barstool founder added an extraordinary new Florida home to his already impressive property portfolio, purchasing a $27.75 million mansion in the picturesque town of Islamadora.
Portnoy’s newest abode sits on a 1.65-acre waterfront lot and encompasses 10,228 square feet.
This “rare offering in the heart of the Florida Keys” features “150 feet of private shoreline, dock, boat ramp, private beach, two pools, and lush, mature tropical landscaping,” the listing said.
The sale set a record for Islamorada, a town made up of a chain of six islands between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. The previous record of $22.65 million was set in 2023.
It was the second major real estate purchase Portnoy made in the Sunshine State in the last five years, after also He bought a huge beachfront mansion in Miami in 2021, when it was last listed for sale for $15 million.
The two-story contemporary features nine bedrooms and nine bathrooms. It comes with a one bedroom, one bathroom guest house.
Built in 1939, the 6,000-square-foot home has since been restored and renovated. The lushly landscaped acreage includes a pool, patio, beach cabana, and private dock.
Although luxurious, that home has been plagued with mold issues ever since, according to a post shared on Portnoy’s X account, where he asked his followers in August 2024 to recommend “the best mold company in Miami history” to come see his “moldy house.”
Back in his home state of Massachusetts, Portnoy opted not to buy in his hometown of Swampscott and instead acquired two adjacent homes in Nantucket for $42 million in 2023.
According to multiple reports, the purchase set a record for the island and the state at the time. He reportedly spent an additional $2 million on furniture.
It was worth the price to get a house in his “favorite place on Earth,” he said.
“Nantucket has always been my favorite place on Earth,” he wrote in a post on X. “The best day of my year was going to the vacation island. The worst day was taking the ferry back home.”
The two homes sit on 1.2 acres on the popular vacation island: a 5,200-square-foot main residence and a two-bedroom guest house. There’s also a pool and harbor views for miles.
Perhaps the most intriguing feature of the house is its underground tunnel, which connects the guest house with a separate studio, both separate from the enormous main residence.
And when the media mogul wants to rest and relax closer to his company’s New York office, he can head to his mansion in Montauk, New York, which he is understood to have purchased for $9.8 million in 2021.
The 5,700-square-foot vacation getaway in the trendy Hamptons enclave has five bedrooms, a pool and endless ocean views.
Although reports emerged that the cash-strapped owner was looking to sell the property for $14 million, he denied putting his Hamptons home on the market.