Vail Resorts announces layoffs as part of two-year ‘transformation plan’

Vail Resorts, which operates five Colorado ski resorts, announced on Thursday it will lay off 14% of its corporate workforce as part of a two-year plan to “transform the company.”

The company says the layoffs will affect less than 1% of operations employees and 2% of its total workforce. Vail Resorts has more than 40,000 employees, according to the industry research database IBISWorld.

The layoffs are one part of an expected $100 million in total savings through the end of the 2026 fiscal year, the company said. Additional savings will come through efficiencies in operations and workforce management technology, as well as consolidating its global business services, according to the announcement.

“The two-year Resource Efficiency Transformation Plan is designed to improve organizational effectiveness and scale for operating leverage as the company grows,” the ski giant said in the Thursday news bulletin.

It was not clear in Thursday’s announcement how many employees in Colorado would be impacted by layoffs. The company is headquartered in Broomfield but has corporate workers in remote positions and stationed outside of Colorado.

The announcement of layoffs comes as Vail Resorts reported a loss of $175.4 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, according to The Associated Press.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of $4.28 per share.

The ski resort operator posted revenue of $265.4 million in the period, surpassing Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $262.4 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $230.4 million, down 14% from a year ago. Revenue was reported as $2.89 billion, down a tick year over year.

The company operates 42 ski resorts worldwide, including 37 in North America, three in Australia and two in Europe. Vail’s Colorado resorts are Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte.

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