Covers Mammoth Like The Snow

By Bump Diamond
Man About Town

    The suspense as to who is going to buy Dave McCoy's controlling shares of the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is going to end this week, according to company employees who say they have corporate emails giving them a heads-up.
    "Actually, it was supposed to be announced last Friday," said one insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
    The leading name, among several advanced by Mammoth Mountain cognoscenti is that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. will buy the shares and assume control of the ski operations, as well as operations involving resort properties independent of the actual skiing concerns.
    In the complex scheme, Canadian resort builder Intrawest would continue to hold minority shares of the property and current Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory also would continue in an ownership and executive role.
    On its corporate Web site, Starwood claims to be "one of the world's largest hotel and leisure companies.
    "We conduct our hotel and leisure business both directly and through our subsidiaries. Our brand names include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, W and Four Points by Sheraton. Through these brands, we are well represented in most major markets around the world. Our operations are grouped into two business segments, hotels and vacation ownership operations."
    The company suggested on its Web site that it not only had the wherewithal to manage a resort such as Mammoth, but that it was looking to acquire more properties as part of its overall strategy.
    "Our revenues and earnings are also derived from the development, ownership and operation of vacation ownership resorts," according to the Web site, "marketing and selling (vacation ownership interests) in the resorts and providing financing to customers who purchase such interests.
    "At December 31, 2004, we had 19 vacation ownership resorts in the United States and the Bahamas."
    Starwood does not own any ski areas, however.
    McCoy, the ski area founder and icon who turned 90 this past summer, announced earlier this year that he would sell his controlling shares, touching off a wild round of speculation around Mammoth as well as in the ski industry itself.