Starwood Capital

The Virgin model: license your brand and take 7% on every leg

Begelman explains licensing a media brand instead of selling it: e.g. Barstool could license to Penn, take ~7% of the betting app, get paid for advertising it, and even run a venture fund investing in the JV—taking a piece on every leg. Barry Sternlicht runs this stack across Starwood Capital, brands, and hotels.

“Instead of them being bought by Penn Gaming, I think it was, they could have licensed their brand to Penn. Penn could have spun up an app for sports betting and Barstool maybe takes 7% of it. And in addition to that, Barstool maybe gets paid for advertising so that they advertise the new app. And in addition to that, if they want to take it a step further, they could even raise like a venture fund. And invest in the new joint venture so that they're basically taking a piece of the pie on every leg.”

Steal thisLicense your brand to an operator for ~7%, get paid to market the JV, and run a fund that invests in it—take a cut on every leg.