Vermont ski company fighting unfriendly corporate takeover

By Ted Cohen

The company that runs Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow ski resorts is challenging a multi-pronged campaign being waged by outsiders to grab one of its prize mountains.

The attempted unfriendly takeover of a Utah mountain owned by Vail Resorts comes in the wake of company financial pressures due to a snowless 2025-2026 ski season.

In a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission earlier this week, Vail Resorts accused Oasis Management, a Hong Kong-based investment group of working in cahoots with Matthew Prince, a Utah billionaire.

Prince, who has been publicly campaigning to buy the Park City Mountain ski resort from the publicly traded company based near Denver, has been critical of the way Vail Resorts runs its mountains.

He was quoted by ParkRecord.com as saying said one of his business partners in the takeover bid has “a fundamental love of skiing and understanding of its magic, something the current Vail management and board have forgotten or lost.”

Vail officials claim Prince has a corporate conf of interest in his relationship with Oasis management.

The corporate fight in Vail’s boardroom comes at a difficult time for the company.

Vail has also been under fire in Vermont for allegedly over-commercializing the three mountains it now controls in the Green Mountain State.

Vail operates 42 mountains across four countries, making it the largest publicly traded ski operator.

The company bought Stowe Mountain Resort in 2017, Okemo in 2018 and Mount Snow in 2019.