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Investing.com -- Activist Oasis Capital Management is weighing a proxy fight at Vail Resorts Inc (NYSE:MTN), Semafor reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The activist, which holds 7.9% of Vail’s stock, could seek changes to the company’s board and push for divestitures of Vail’s mountain properties, the report said.
The proxy-fight report follows a separate Semafor story published Thursday revealing that Vail has already engaged takeover-defense bankers to assess its vulnerabilities, with some of those conversations specifically focused on outside interest in the company’s mountain assets. Among the most prominent potential buyers named are Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, who has publicly expressed willingness to invest $500 million in Park City Mountain Resort and told a local Colorado publication that he has received calls from activist investors about Vail.
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The original report sent shares of Vail Resorts sharply higher, closing the Thursday session up 11.3% at $144.63, a gain of $14.70. Volume reached roughly 2.16 million shares, more than double the stock’s three-month average of approximately 831,000, according to Investing.com data, reflecting a decisive repricing on the potential activism. Following the latest update, shares are up 0.16% in the after-hours.
Vail CEO Rob Katz, who returned to lead the company in May 2025 after replacing his own hand-picked successor, has been openly skeptical of the asset-light model that Prince advocates. "I’m not necessarily a fan of the asset light model, at least not for our company and in terms of where we’re trying to go," Katz told Semafor. On Prince specifically, Katz struck a diplomatic but dismissive tone: "I think it’s great to see the passion and enthusiasm that he has for us and for Park City... I don’t think we’re going to run down and follow anyone’s individual perspective."
The activist pressure arrives at a vulnerable moment for the ski resort operator. Vail has faced a convergence of headwinds over the past year: a disappointing snow season, a labor dispute with unionized ski patrol that drew national attention during the peak holiday period, and back-to-back earnings misses.
