The Scoop
Activist investor Oasis Capital Management is considering mounting a proxy fight at Vail Resorts that would seek to shake up the company’s board and explore selling off Vail’s mountains, according to people familiar with the matter.
Among the likely buyers of Vail’s mountains would be Park City resident and billionaire Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, the people said. Prince, whose said he wanted to purchase Park City Mountain Resort from Vail, has vocally disagreed with Vail CEO Rob Katz over the company’s relationships with local unions and Park City itself.
“It’s inevitable that Vail management who have proven to be such incompetent capital allocators will change,” Prince said on X Thursday, in response to a Semafor report that Vail had tapped defense advisers on a general basis.
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In June, Prince told a local Colorado paper that he was willing to invest $500 million in the resort, and said he has fielded calls from unnamed activist investors about Vail Resorts. His argument: Separate the mountains from the rest of the business.
Oasis’ decision on whether to mount a proxy fight could change once it begins to engage more thoroughly with the company. Oasis and Prince couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Vail did not return requests for comment.
Oasis and Vail have had some conversations, one of the people said, but it was not clear if the possibility of a proxy fight had been raised in those conversations.
“I think it’s great to see the passion and enthusiasm that he has for us and for Park City,” Katz said on Semafor’s Compound Interest in May of Prince’s interest. “We have a lot of very wealthy guests and community members in a lot of our communities and they have strong feelings and they have views. And I think all of those are important for us to take in. I don’t think we’re going to run down and follow anyone’s individual perspective.”
Oasis, one of the most aggressive and high-profile activist investors in Asia, has steadily amassed a sizable position in Vail, proxy records show.