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Matthew Prince, billionaire CEO of Cloudflare and longtime Park City local, has confirmed he submitted an offer to buy Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) from Vail Resorts. Although Vail declined, Prince says the offer “still stands.”
The move follows Prince’s recent purchase of the Town Lift Plaza—a key piece of real estate at the base of the resort. The deal includes retail spaces, restaurants like The Bridge Café and Flying Sumo, the PCMR ticket plaza, and the majority of underground parking. While the property was listed for $27 million, the final sale price remains undisclosed.
But Prince’s ambitions go well beyond real estate. He envisions a fully modernized lift system—potentially a gondola connecting Main Street to Solitude and Alta, a nod to the long-discussed dream of European-style resort interconnectivity in the Wasatch.
The timing of his offer is no accident. Just months ago, nearly 200 ski patrollers at PCMR launched a historic 13-day strike during peak holiday season, demanding better pay and safer working conditions. The strike, the largest in ski patrol history, exposed deep tensions with Vail Resorts' management.
Prince, who once worked as a ski instructor at PCMR, hasn’t minced words about the resort’s corporate owner. “I see them as having largely given up on Park City,” he told KPCW. “That’s really sad for a mountain I care enormously about.”
With an estimated net worth of $5 billion, Prince insists his motivations are not financial. “I just want to serve this community,” he said, advocating for local ownership as a better path forward for Park City.
In a time when distrust of billionaires is running high, public skepticism remains. But for many in the Wasatch, that skepticism is now outweighed by frustration with faceless conglomerates like Vail.
As the future of Park City Mountain hangs in the balance, Prince’s bid highlights a broader question: Who should be responsible for stewarding the soul of mountain towns—Wall Street, or someone who actually lives there?