PicoBlog

In the world of media personalities, boasting about wealth and success is not uncommon. When such claims reach extravagant heights, however, skepticism naturally arises.

This brings us to Clay Travis, who, since selling Outkick to Fox, has made assertions of being worth “several hundred million dollars”, being a “hundred millionaire”, and finally his net worth claim of “$100 million dollars” on last Tuesday’s Outkick the Show stream.

Undoubtedly, Clay has overachieved in his media career, which started with a pudding strike to protest NFL telecast availability in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He built and sold his website to one of the largest and most powerful media conglomerates in the world before stepping into the radio time slot of conservative media deity Rush Limbaugh.

The Nashville native also has shown a career-long tendency to act as a showman, complete with inflated or completely false claims, provocative opinions, and a persona built around opposition and obstruction to predominant thought. These traits have only become more animated since he made his premeditated turn to conservative punditry after realizing the MAGA movement’s base was ripe for his brand of off-color and often-bigoted takes.

With this in mind, we were initially skeptical of Clay’s claims once he began advertising his arrival as a “hundred millionaire” and beyond. Over the last year, Exposing Clay Travis has obtained publicly available — yet difficult to find — details about his business filings, shell companies, and property holdings. Our findings paint a picture of a man who truly is successful, but has an enormous ego deficit that requires him to fabricate above what most would consider a tremendous level of personal and professional achievement.

Property addresses and other personal identification information have been redacted from the below reporting.

The Outkick sale to FOX
In May of 2021, Fox Corp. announced that it had acquired Outkick. At the time, CEO Lachlan Murdoch said it was a “natural complement to several of our brands and will deepen our investment in the sports wagering ecosystem”. Details of the sale were not immediately disclosed, and Travis stayed on as President of the site and is expected to do so for the next several years. On his various platforms, Clay bragged that the deal made him a “hundred million dollar plus guy”, implying a massive sale price for the brand, which he later self-valued at “several hundred million dollars.”

A few days after the sale, FOX’s SEC filings shed some light on reality.

Corporations must disclose details of acquisitions to the SEC if the sale amount is considered “material” to the business, like the below statement regarding Fox’s transaction with Caffeine in 2019 for $100 million.

If Fox truly paid several hundred million dollars, this would have triggered the need for another material notice like they did for Caffeine and Tubi, shown below. Instead, the Outkick purchase was essentially a footnote and labeled “not material to the company” via Fox filings, suggesting a sale price closer to $10 million. It’s also important to consider that Clay allegedly tried to sell one-third of the company to Jason Whitlock for $500k in 2020. That’s quite a haircut in terms of value.

That Clay Travis was able to build a website from nothing and sell it to a media giant for any amount is impressive, and that would be enough for most people. Instead, this is the first in a line of easily disproven exaggerations that he uses in an attempt to cast a bigger shadow with his followers than he otherwise would.

Residences
”I have four houses now, I think.” - Clay Travis on Outkick the Show, Tuesday, March 19th, 2024

During this stream, Clay claimed that his properties are, in total, worth “$40 or $50 million dollars”.

According to public records, Clay Travis’ current home in Franklin, Tennessee is tax appraised around $1.6 million with a market value of, generously, around $3 million. In 2019, Clay and his wife, Lara, took out a 30-year mortgage on the home worth $213,000.

As mentioned on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, the Travis family is building a new home in nearby Brentwood, Tennessee. We uncovered that this is being done under a holding company called “Triple T TN, LLC”, likely being used to conceal his identity.

On last week’s show, he estimated the value of this unconstructed new home to be $15 million. A local source reported to us that homes in the subdivision in which Clay is building are, in reality, worth $3 to $5 million, and “nowhere near” $10M. In March of 2023, the LLC purchased land to build the home for $250,000 and took out a large loan on the property, likely to cover construction costs.

Clay frequently brags about having a “mansion” on 30A in Rosemary Beach, Florida, making a big deal about it being beachfront property. In reality, Clay owns a condo on the town square assessed at $1.8 million, per tax records.

Recently, Clay purchased a lot in Alys Beach, Florida and has (another) major loan on the property. Alys Beach is a very affluent area with homes sometimes reaching $10 million, but Clay doesn’t have a finished home. He has an unfinished lot and it still isn’t beachfront. Again, what he has is something that most people would dream of, but the ego can’t help itself here. Even when there is a legitimate accomplishment to be proud of, Clay has to stretch the truth beyond the bounds of reality.

Businesses
In March of 2023, incorporation documents for an “Undaunted LLC” were filed in located in Miami Beach, Florida. A Thomas F Mersch is listed as the registered agent, with three interesting authorized members included:

RICHARD C TRAVIS
JAMES B SEXTON
MASON SEXTON

James (Buck) Sexton is, obviously, Clay’s radio partner at iHeartRadio, and Mason is his father. The Sextons went full grift in 2023 when they launched a stock market doom predictor campaign, complete with poorly acted interviews (Buck sat down with his Dad) and a price tag of several thousand dollars for “The Prophecy” program, which included Mason’s market advice. Unsurprisingly, their claims of several major forthcoming market events did not come to fruition.

There are no clear links from The Prophecy to this LLC, but the combination of players is interesting and timeline is interesting, to say the least. Did Clay, Buck, and Mason all decide that conservative radio’s built-in rube audience is too easy of a business opportunity to pass up? We’ll keep digging.

A summary of Clay’s claims from Outkick the Show on Thursday, March 19:

$200,000 in his checking account: This seems reasonable, depending on any remaining funds from the Fox sale and residuals he is paid for such, in conjunction with his iHeartRadio salary.

$25 million in stock holdings: Not verifiable, could be true depending on the amount of Fox Corp. stock that was included in the Outkick sale.

$40-50 million in homes (TN+FL): This is quite a stretch as we outlined above. Clay has a home in Tennessee (~$3M value), a condominium in Florida (~$2M), unfinished lots in each state, and major loans attached to each of the future/under construction properties.

”Stakes in nine or ten buildings” and “Stakes in several different private equity funds”: Because he isn’t publicly listed on any additional properties or companies aside from what we’ve outlined, it’s impossible to include this in the calculation. In the former, he is likely shielded by additional shell companies. It’s impossible to verify these claims.

Considering what we’ve outlined above and cutting some considerable slack, Clay’s net worth could exceed $25-$30 million, maybe? This is a figure that most people will only dream of, but for him, it’s not enough. In order to truly feel successful, he feels the need to paint an even grander picture of his own life.

At the end of the day, Clay Travis is a successful guy who recognized a business opportunity and took advantage of it. His near-daily assertions of a $100 million net worth, however, lack substantial evidence and verification, especially when actual details of his holdings come to light.

Want to help Exposing Clay Travis reach the next level?
We’re planning some big things with election season upon us. Unfortunately, leveling up our efforts will take some dough. From additional contributors to Twitter ad campaigns and user experience planning, we can use all the help we can get as ECT is a completely self-funded venture.

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