Yellowstone Club - History

History

During its peak season, almost 600 people are employed at the club.

The club was featured on CNBC's lifestyle show High Net Worth with Tyler Mathisen.

Cyclist Greg LeMond, an early investor and homeowner/member, sued the club in 2006, saying club founder Tim Blixseth and his former wife Edra Denise (Crocker) Blixseth had borrowed $375 million from Credit Suisse Group and took $209 million for themselves as a dividend, jilting him and other investors. The suit was settled in 2008 for $39.5 million. Ms. Blixseth eventually agreed to pay Mr. LeMond and others a $21.5 million settlement; she’s paid only $8 million of that amount and Mr. LeMond and others are now among her creditors in her personal bankruptcy.

Other members identified in, or cited in, the Times report were Burt Sugarman, a Beverly Hills businessman, and his wife, the Entertainment Tonight host Mary Hart; Steve Burke, the chief operating officer of Comcast; Bill Frist, the former Senate majority leader; Todd Thomson, the former head of Citigroup’s private banking unit; Robert Greenhill, founder of the investment bank Greenhill & Company; Annika Sörenstam, the Swedish golf star; Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Jim Davidson, a founder of Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm in Menlo Park (CA); Brian Klein, a former Goldman Sachs vice president who now runs an investment management firm in Seattle; Peter Chernin of the News Corporation; Barry Sternlicht, the hotelier and CEO of Starwood Capital Group; and Gary Rieschel, a venture capitalist with Qiming Venture Partners. Jack Kemp, the late U.S. politician, was on the club’s honorary board of directors with Mr. Quayle, among others.

The Times said that as of June 2009, Yellowstone Club had about 250 members. It said membership cost a minimum of $250,000 to join, plus the cost of a $5 million to $35 million mountainside home, plus annual dues of about $20,000, according to members.