Overview

• Public shareholders will receive $9 per share in cash, valuing the company at roughly $2.7 billion including debt and reflecting about an 18% premium to the last close.
• MCR Hotels is leading the buyout with capital support from Apollo affiliates, and the company expects to close the transaction by year-end 2025 subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals with a subsequent NYSE delisting.
• Executive Chairman Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa and founder Nick Jones will roll their stakes to retain majority control, with existing investors such as Richard Caring and Goldman Sachs Alternatives remaining involved.
• Board and leadership changes include Ashton Kutcher joining as a director at closing, MCR CEO Tyler Morse becoming vice chairman, and Neil Thomson appointed chief financial officer effective immediately.
• Shares jumped about 16% on the announcement, capping a public-market period marked by losses, a slide from the $14 IPO price, short-seller scrutiny, and pressure from activist investor Dan Loeb, who now backs the deal.