The headline pretty much speaks for itself.

Vail Resorts, the Broomfield, CO based mountain resort holding company announced that they will purchase Whistler Blackcomb for a cash & stock deal worth approximately CDN $1.39B (USD $1.06B). While they are calling it a partnership or “business combination”, it looks more like an acquisition: If approved, Vail will own 100% of outstanding shares of Whistler Blackcomb, whose shareholders will be compensated in cash & stock value of CDN $36.00 per share. The sale is still subject to shareholder & regulatory approval.

Dave Brownlie, CEO of Whistler Blackcomb highlights the benefits of the acquisition in Vail’s press release:

As the number one ranked and most visited resort in North America, Whistler Blackcomb has enjoyed tremendous success by delivering an exceptional mountain experience for our passionate and loyal guests — both locally and from around the world. That’s going to continue as we work with our new colleagues at Vail Resorts as well as our employees, local businesses, community and government stakeholders to make Whistler Blackcomb better than ever. Partnering with the geographically diversified Vail Resorts and extending its successful Epic Pass products to Whistler Blackcomb are customer-focused ways of securing the long-term future of our resort, our industry and our community

Vail’s continued pursuit of ski resort properties has drawn ire from some, opposed to the commodification & Disney-fication of ski & snowboard resorts which seem increasingly focused on real estate development as a profit center, and the provision of additional and tangential amenities and luxuries, as well as the expansion arms race. On the flip-side, though, the savvy skier or snowboarder can now take advantage of the Epic Pass to gain unlimited access to more than a dozen North American ski areas which benefits now extend to Whistler Blackcomb.

Vail will honor existing Whistler Blackcomb season passes, while expanding their own Epic Pass to include the Whistler properties for the 2017-2018 season, so that is probably good news for passholders and guests. However, I would expect a lot of corporate jobs to be made redundant by this “partnership” — as is often the case when large companies merger, jobs in departments like Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, Marketing, and any strategy-themed positions will most likely be impacted. Vail does intend to “retain the vast majority of Whistler Blackcomb employees”, presumably for day-to-day operations and guest services, etc.

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Whistler/Blackcomb was formed as a merger of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains in 1997, and has since become one of the premiere destination resorts in the Canadian west, with a ski/snowboard season among the longest in the world (October through May, most years), and which also hosts the Camp of Champions ski and snowboard summer camps on their glacier-covered terrain throughout the summer months, in addition to other alpine and year-round activities.

Note: the original article was edited at 3:10PM EST to include additional transaction details, and to note that it is still subject to approval from shareholders and regulatory bodies.