Dave Portnoy calls out 'f***ing brain dead' Barstool Sports employees for not showing up to office on first day after he bought company back

Returning Barstool Sports owner and founder Dave Portnoy has blasted his 'f***ing brain dead' employees just one day after buying back the sports media company from PENN Entertainment.

Portnoy announced in an 'emergency press conference' on Tuesday that he is back as the sole owner of Barstool for the first time in nearly a decade, after PENN decided to end its relationship with the company and hand the reins back to him.

The online casino only acquired Barstool in February, yet Portnoy claims PENN has now decided to go in a different direction after agreeing a deal with ESPN.

It means the 46-year-old has been left in creative control of the site without any restriction from corporate overlords, which he says means Barstool do not 'have to watch what we say, how we talk, what we do. It is back to the pirate ship.'

However, less than 24 hours after reacquiring the company, Portnoy returned to an empty office on his first day back at Barstool on Wednesday. 

Warning: Explicit language in the video below 

Dave Portnoy announced that he is back as the sole owner of Barstool Sports on Tuesday

But the returning owner was furious to find that no one had showed up for his first day back

He shared a video on Twitter of the depleted headquarters, with merely a couple of employees present, and included it in a Barstool article titled: 'How F***ing Brain Dead Are All My Employees?'

Portnoy went on to write: 'I have an honest question. How f*****g dumb are all my idiot employees? 

'I’ve literally owned Barstool again for less than 24 hours, they know I’m in town and literally none of them have showed up at the office today before 10am. I’ve been here since 8am because I’m old and don’t sleep anymore and was reading all the news articles sucking my c*** for buying Barstool back. 

'Anyway back to the point. Nobody is here. It was so silent I noticed how silent it was. And I’m not talking about valuable employees either. This isn't murderers row of content. It's not Big Cat, PFT or Alex Cooper. I’m talking about Guys I could cut at the drop of a hat and nobody would notice and they’d never find another job like this again. 

'NONE of them are here. None of them thought to show up maybe early on day 1 of the new regime. I mean seriously how f*****g dumb are these people? 

'No wonder Penn gave it back to me for pennies on the dollar. I got the dumbest group of morons who ever lived.'

Portnoy has assured his army of fans that Barstool's content would return to the raunchy, irreverent work they became infamous for now that they are a private company.

PENN purchased a 36 percent stake in Barstool in January of 2020, before increasing their stake to around 50 percent by 2023. 

For the first time since selling a stake to The Chernin Group, Portnoy now has full control

PENN CEO Jay Snowden thanked Barstool for their help in growing their sportsbook

Reports at the time of the initial PENN deal indicated that The Chernin Group would retain their 36 percent stake in the company. It's unclear whether or not Chernin eventually sold their stake to PENN, or if they sold it to Portnoy in this deal.

Discussing how the deal came about, Portnoy said: 'We did this deal about three years ago, and I think both parties were like "we're gonna take this thing to the moon".

'We underestimated just how tough it is for myself and Barstool to operate in a regulated world where gambling regulators, the New York Times, Business Insider hit pieces f–king with the stock price. Every time we did something it was one step forward two steps back.

'We got denied licenses because of me. You name it. So the regulated industry probably not the best place for Barstool Sports and the type of content we make.'

'PENN was able to broker an unbelievable deal with ESPN. We wish them nothing but the best in their endeavors. It's truly a win-win.'