Speaking to his 27,700 followers, Robins discussed the company’s recent successes and more importantly – the company’s future. He acknowledged that there have been ebbs and flows in the company’s fortunes, but this was alright.

DraftKings Navigating a Bear Market

DraftKings, he noted, became a publicly-traded company in 2020, and has been doing fairly well, although the company has lost 8.73% since going public. Robins acknowledged that the company had to operate in both a bull and a bear market in alternating turns with both offering their unique set of challenges.

DraftKings entered the industry at a time when things were looking up for sports betting and gaming companies. The good run, though, ended with surging inflation, lockdowns, and increases in interest rates, which depressed consumer spending and triggered a bear market for not just DraftKings, but the sports betting and gaming sector as a whole. Robins though welcomed these challenges as a rite of passage and a true test to a company’s mettle, saying:

These are the types of business environments in which great companies separate from the pack. For us, that meant becoming more cost-efficient and accelerating our path to profitability.

DraftKings’ CEO Jason Robins

Profitability has been an often-mentioned phrase by the chief executive, who is determined to bring value to shareholders at a time when access to cheap equity on the promise of future profits is no longer a sustainable model. This is why Robins confirmed that his company has been able to cut $100 million in costs while also improving revenue expectations with every passing quarter.

Promise of Profitability Comes with Tough Decisions

Of course, cost-cutting has not been as easy as it sounds, and it has required sacrifice, with the company deciding to cut 3.5% of its workforce in February – some 140 employees at the time. Robins is naturally keen to talk up DraftKings. He holds 93% of the company’s voting equity, which means that he most than all people involved needs to see the company succeed.

Then again, Robins was happy to focus on some of the good that the company has been able to produce in a financial and economic sense. Revenue, the executive said, had increased by 73% year-over-year. He also saw an 81% increase in year-over-year results. All in all, Robins feels happy with the numbers, but he cautions that the work is far from finished and more needs to be done to realize DraftKing’s full potential.