Three years after stepping out of the CEO role of Vacasa, Eric Breon is now leaving the board of directors for the company he founded in 2009.
Breon will not stand for re-election to the board at the company’s annual shareholder meeting May 23. Instead, his seat, which is designated for an affiliate shareholder he controls, will have former Vacasa executive Kimberly White stand for election.
The company (Nasdaq: VCSA) said in regulatory filings that Breon’s decision is not the result of a disagreement with the company on any manner.
“The board and myself extend a heartfelt thank you and congratulations to Eric on his success in building Vacasa and helping it become, by far, the leading vacation rental management platform in North America,” said Jeff Parks, chairman of Vacasa’s board and managing partner of Riverwood Capital in a written statement. “We look forward to welcoming Kimberly to the board of directors.”
Riverwood was one of Vacasa’s major private equity backers and still holds shares in the company. Parks represents Riverwood’s share.
White was part of the original Vacasa team and has led various operations roles at the company. She spent more than 11 years at Vacasa. She is currently executive vice president of strategy and operations for hotel and real estate development company Loge Camps.
"(White) has a unique appreciation of the needs of Vacasa’s homeowners, guests, and employees, and the operational complexities involved in delivering on them, which I believe will be a great asset to the board,” said Breon in a written statement.
He said that while he has not been leading day to day at the company he has remained close.
“I know that the company is in great hands with Rob Greyber as CEO, which gives me the opportunity to step back and focus on other interests. I am excited to see Vacasa continue executing against the massive opportunity in vacation rentals and be a driver of positive change in the industry,” Breon said.
Vacasa was a fast-growing Portland startup. It created a vacation property rental management platform designed to help property owners maximize their rental potential. Vacasa maintains the property owners' homes and markets and manages rentals.
The company raised huge amounts of capital and reached a unicorn valuation before going public via SPAC merger in 2021. Its stock has not performed well on public markets. Shares have fallen below $1. The company is facing challenges coming off of unusually high demand following the Covid-19 shutdowns.
It had significant layoffs in January, cutting 17% of its workforce. CEO Grayber has rebuilt his executive team and made big changes to improve profitability and execution. He has described 2023 as a transition year for the company.
At the end of last year, the company had 44,000 homes on its platform in 500 destinations. In 2022, it had 6.2 million nights sold on the platform.
For 2022, the company had revenue of $1.19 billion, up from 34% from last year. For the full year, it widened its net loss to $332.1 million, compared with $154.6 million lost in 2021. On an adjusted basis, the loss for the year was $27.5 million.
