Exclusive: Struggling DraftKings awards $30 million marketing contract to cofounder who recently stepped down

DraftKings has fallen on hard times.

Under pressure from prediction markets , the betting site has seen its share price fall 44% in the past year and has endured significant layoffs.

In March, one of DraftKings’ cofounders, Matthew Kalish, stepped down as president—but not before persuading the board to approve a series of potentially lucrative deals to benefit his new marketing company.

As set out in a recent regulatory filing , DraftKings has agreed to pay up to $30 million in a marketing agreement with media platform HardScope, Kalish’s newest endeavor to help scale creator brands.

Under the terms of the arrangement, HardScope will broker deals with podcast hosts and other figures to promote DraftKings, and is entitled to keep a commission of up to 14%.

The arrangement is noteworthy because it directs DraftKings to make a large marketing outlay to a company insider at a time when the firm is struggling and because it appears to be the product of a board structure that gives an unusual amount of power to its CEO.

The marketing deal raises questions about corporate oversight and could, in the near term, supply additional ammunition to short sellers that have been aggressively betting against DraftKings’ share price for the bulk of 2026.

The “big red flag” In November, DraftKings announced that Kalish would leave his role as president after 14 years with the company.

He formally stepped down four months later.

The company announced the news in a quarterly filing dated September 2025 that stated only that Kalish and his fellow cofounders, Jason Robins and Paul Liberman, had “mutually agreed” to his departure.

During the months between his announced and actual departure, Kalish formally launched HardScope in December, according to a company press release.

Kalish wholly owns the company, which, according to its website, says it connects “brands and fans with the most influential streamers built to lead culture.” Six weeks before Kalish left DraftKings, the company entered into the marketing arrangement with HardScope, which gives the betting site the option to spend up to $30 million over three years.

The deal built on an earlier agreement, signed in June 2025, that allowed DraftKings to pay HardScope up to $600,000 for promotional services.

“Fees are payable only when an applicable statement of work and related talent agreement are executed, and the applicable services and deliverables are provided,” a DraftKings spokesperson told Fortune , while Kalish noted the company has the right but not the obligation use HardScope’s services.