(1/11/13) The situation is not all rosy at Holiday World these days it seems. Ongoing strife has been going on behind the curtains ever since the tragic death of Will Koch in June 2010. A verdict passed in December from a civil lawsuit that has been ongoing for the past two years has now left the controlling interest in Holiday World in the hands of Will’s wife, Lori Koch. Shortly after the verdict was handed down on December 3rd, Lori fired Dan Koch, who now remains only as a minority shareholder in Koch Development Corp, though he is appealing the verdict.
Lori Koch is now serving at the Vice President of Holiday World, and appointed Matt Eckert as the new President, who will begin his new duties starting this Monday. So what was this civil suit all about? According to this article, Koch Development Corp and Dan Koch failed to abide a purchase agreement in which the company was obliged to purchase Will Koch’s shares in the company after his death. According to Lori Koch, the shares were worth over $32 million, but Dan Koch who had assumed control of Koch Development at the time valued them only at $26.5 million. The judge’s verdict that ruled in favor of Lori Koch has freed her from any legal obligation to sell Will’s shares to either Dan Koch or Koch Development, keeping her intact as the majority shareholder.
Apparently the original buyback agreement was signed back in 2002 between siblings: Dan, Will and their sister Natalie Koch, who at the time held an equal number of shares. The agreement included some pre-set formulas for determining the value of the shares, as well as the timing and method of how the payments would take place, which is where things also fell into disagreement. Things also became interesting when both Dan and Will purchased shares from their sister Natalie just months before Will’s death.
I’ve also heard rumors that the sudden formation and demise of the Bluegrass Boardwalk company by Dan Koch, Natalie Koch, their cousin Kathy Kamp and her husband Michael Kamp, who pitched to revive Kentucky Kingdom may have been a reflection of the background power struggle that was taking place.
However this plays out, it is nice to see that Holiday World will remain owned by the Koch family, and I hope they can work this all out. At the time of Will’s death, his three children were all working at Holiday World as well, so it would be nice to see them all stay with the family business. So far there has been no word on where Pat Koch stands on the issue at hand.
