For those of you who don’t know, Dave Portnoy is the CEO of Barstool Sports, and has taken on the persona of Davey Day Trader since sports were cancelled in March due to coronavirus.
Dave’s an avid sports fan and sports gambler, and trading stocks have given him and many others an outlet as the sports world is put on hold.
Now that Dave has gone on a winning streak, he’s called out the likes of those in the FinTwit community, including calling Ross Gerber a “SIMP” and Warren Buffett “washed up” and an “idiot”.
At first, financial media thought what Dave was doing was pretty cute. Fast Money would have him on their program and their panel of experts would give Dave advice on stocks.
But now they’re fed up with him. Interviewers appear to be defensive. Portnoy continues to remain brash as long as he continues to make money in the market.
What the media doesn’t realize is that they are being PLAYED by Portnoy for millions of dollars in free publicity.
And you know the sad thing?
This is the same playbook that Trump used to get free publicity through his 2016 campaign. The media believed there was no chance Trump could beat Hillary, so they built up Trump as the candidate so they could rag on him every time he said something stupid. Then he won the election and it wasn’t quite so funny.
This was the same playbook used by Lavar Ball to get free publicity when his son Lonzo Ball was at UCLA and getting drafted by the Lakers. Lavar was building up his own brand, Big Baller Brands, and leveraged media attention to try to monetize this idea.
He used his son’s hard work and accomplishments to push his own thing. It only ended once Lonzo Ball rolled his ankles multiple time in Ball Baller Brand shoes causing him to switch over to Nike, and suing a former brand partner.
The media gets played so hard. They fall for these electric, brash, loud personalities who say whatever is on their mind. Then they get defensive and attack when those loud people don’t do what they want them to do.
That’s what’s happening with Portnoy. As he continues to brag about his stock market gains, financial media and those in the financial space grow more and more resentful of the man.
Thing is, Dave doesn’t care about making money in the market. Once the world goes back to normal, and sports come back into our lives, Dave will go right on back to running Barstool sports. Except now the Barstool sports brand has been exposed to tens of millions of people who may not have otherwise heard of them.
So, financial media, you are being played. You fed the beast, the beast has become bigger. Now you are upset that Portnoy is making a joke out of the financial industry.
To the mainstream media in general: you get played so hard repeatedly, and you don’t even realize what is going on. While your attention is on Dave’s trades, he’s busying enjoying all this free publicity at the benefit his brand.
Don’t like it? Stop giving him attention. That’s it.
Enlightenment Investing 