PARK CITY, Utah-
Liberty Media Corp. bought a controlling stake in Backcountry.com, the second-largest online retailer of outdoor gear, the companies announced Monday.
Denver-based Liberty Media, with assets ranging from cable television networks to interactive commerce, didn’t reveal terms of the transaction. Its Liberty Interactive Entertainment Inc., which owns TV shopping channel QVC, expects to complete the transaction by June.
Jim Holland and John Bresee, ski bums who drew up plans for Backcountry.com on a coffee table in 1997, will continue to run the Utah-based company.
“It’s the best of both worlds,” said Holland, the 39-year-old chief executive of Backcountry.com, who could start planning retirement but would rather stay involved. “John and I are still significant stakeholders with some serious might behind us now.”
Liberty Media “doesn’t manage companies. They invest in companies that have capable management and step back,” he said.
Backcountry.com uses a 200,000-square-foot warehouse in the Salt Lake valley to ship merchandise from leading outdoor brands and operates a number of affiliated Web sites, including BackcountryOutlet.com and TramDock.com, with some merchandise overlap.
It is second only to REI.com in sales of outdoor gear with sales of $82 million last year, Holland said.
“We look forward to driving collaboration among Backcountry and its world-class outdoor brands and Liberty’s existing e-commerce and television companies,” said Michael Zeisser, senior vice president of Liberty Media.
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