Dave Portnoy’s unique setup with his estranged wife is the talk of the internet.
The Barstool Sports founder revealed in an interview with Sage Steele at the end of November that he still shares a bank account with his wife Renee, with whom he split with in 2017 but never formally got divorced from.
Portnoy, who is said to have a net worth of $150 million, told the former ESPN personality that he had allowed her access to his money for her loyalty to him during the early days of Barstool.
“We met when Barstool was nothing, so she rode the grind up with us … She was with me every step of the way, so in my mind, she’s entitled to enjoy the fruits of it,” Portnoy told Steele. “She currently has access to all my money. If she just wanted to be like I’m taking it and be gone, she could. But we’ve had that joint bank account forever. I trust her implicitly. She has full access for a long time.”
Portnoy told Steele that the couple split amicably and that he still views Renee as his “best friend” and never feared she’d abuse the setup because she is “far more frugal than I am.”
“We always got along, it wasn’t like we had a big blowout at the end or anything. The marriage just wasn’t working out the way we wanted it to,” he said about the reason behind the split.
The couple, which got married in 2009 did attempt to file for divorce, but a Massachusetts judge denied their petition for it last year.
“It was denied because she and I have a very fluid relationship with our finances,” Portnoy explained. “We’ve been separated legally for a long time, but the judge said our agreement wasn’t equitable to her.’
“[The judge] was like, ‘Dave you’re worth a lot more, you have to give her half.’ But she was like, ‘I don’t want half.’ So we pretty much agreed on how to do it [without the court].”