Kurt Badenhausen
3 min read
Kirsten Lynch was ousted as CEO of Vail Resorts and has been replaced by former CEO Rob Katz, the resort announced Tuesday after the stock market closed. Katz was CEO for 16 years before Lynch was appointed in 2021 and built Vail into a ski resort giant that now includes 42 mountains.
Lynch’s tenure has been marked by bad press, earnings misses and investor discontent. The stock peaked at $372.51 the week she took over in November 2021, but it is off nearly 60% since then. “Ms. Lynch’s departure will be treated as a termination without cause,” according to an SEC filing about the treatment of her outstanding equity awards.
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Vail shares popped 11% in after-hours trading on the news of the CEO change.
Lynch’s first winter as CEO was marred by long lift lines and employee shortages driven by COVID-19. Vail’s struggles gave birth to the “epicliftlines” Instagram account, which attracted 50,000 followers. The 2023-24 winter was hampered by warm weather that forced Vail to cut revenue and earnings targets. Snowfall at the company’s western resorts was 28% lower than the prior year.
This past winter was marred by a December ski patrol strike at Vail-owned Park City Mountain in Utah. Lack of snow and patrollers during the holiday week meant only 50 of 350 trails at the mountain were open during what is typically the busiest time of the year at ski resorts. The window price for a one-day lift ticket at Park City was $328 this winter.
Revenue for the 12-month period ending Jan. 31 was $2.95 billion, with net income of $276 million.
Katz has been involved with Vail since the early 1990s when he worked at Apollo Global Management, which bought the ski resort and then took it public in 1997. Katz was appointed to the board in 1996 and served as CEO from 2006 through 2021. He was widely hailed for his role in transforming the company, including the introduction of its Epic Pass product in 2008. It allowed skiers and boarders to use the passes at resorts across North America and stabilized the company’s financial results, as a huge portion of revenue was locked in ahead of the season start.
Katz has been executive chair of the board since he stepped down as CEO.
“My most important goal in returning as CEO is ensuring we align with all our stakeholders to deliver an Experience of a Lifetime for our employees and guests while driving financial success for our company,” Katz wrote in an email to Vail employees Tuesday. “It is important to remember that aligning our stakeholders does not mean everyone will always agree with everything we do, or that our stakeholders will agree with each other. And while that is not always comfortable, it is part of the responsibility of being a leader in an industry with such passionate people.”
