Dave Portnoy: Tariff policies may harm media companies

There aren’t many sectors insulated from the historic downturn in the U.S. equities market these past few days.

The recent crash, which has seen the Dow tumble nearly 10% in the last three trading days, has been brutal for investors, regardless of the makeup of their portfolios. The sudden downturn in the stock market coincided with President Donald Trump’s announcement of widespread tariffs on the United States’ top trading partners. It’s a move most economists suggest will drive production costs higher, thereby increasing the price of goods.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, a longtime supporter of President Trump, believes the new tariff policies will adversely affect the media industry, specifically. Speaking on his day trading livestream on Monday, Portnoy explained exactly why he believes media companies like Barstool will likely take a hit because of the new policies.

Dave Portnoy disagrees with the notion that people like him are the most impacted by Donald Trump's tariffs.

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) 2025-04-07T19:49:39.724Z

“Let’s look at Barstool Sports, alright. This economy tanks. Our advertisers who do business overseas and sell products and advertise with us, they sell less products. It gets more expensive. What’s the first thing they cut? Ad budgets. Ad budgets that we get. Suddenly we’re not getting as much money. Suddenly I have to fire Nate and lay people off. That’s how it works. The rich people are probably the least affected…it affects you whether you have money in the stock market or not.”

Earlier in the stream, Portnoy took aim at Trump’s decision to golf over the weekend amid the stock market chaos. He even went as far as to dub today “Orange Monday,” placing blame for the last few days’ events firmly on the president.

While most likely wouldn’t think about how tariffs could directly impact the media industry, Portnoy’s logic makes sense. One of the primary revenue streams of most media businesses is advertising. If it becomes more expensive for companies to produce products, they might shrink advertising budgets, cutting the bottom line for media businesses. Then, of course, if the products those companies advertise are more expensive, fewer people will purchase them.

If these policies are as impactful as traders and economists seem to think they will be, it’s difficult to imagine any industry, including the media, being safe.