Hyatt Chairman Steps Down Over Epstein Files, As Creepy Emails Released

Well, it’s nice to see some level of accountability for once, though I think he’ll be just fine (thanks to Todd for flagging this).

Tom Pritzker steps down from Hyatt’s board

Hyatt has announced that 75-year-old Tom Pritzker, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, will retire from his role effective immediately, and will not seek re-election to the Board of Directors at Hyatt’s upcoming Annual Meeting of Stockholders in May.

Mark Hoplamazian, Hyatt’s President & CEO, will become Chairman of the Board effective immediately. Pritzker has served in his current role since 2004, though has served in senior roles at predecessor entities starting in 1980. As it’s described, during his tenure, he has “provided strategic stewardship as Hyatt expanded its global brand presence, strengthened its asset-light business model, and delivered long-term value for stockholders.”

Here’s what Pritzker officially had to say about his retirement, in Hyatt’s press release:

“I have been a proud member of the Hyatt family since the beginning of Hyatt. As I said in my letter to the Board, it has been both an honor and one of the great experiences of my life to have contributed to Hyatt’s growth. Hyatt is well positioned for the future, and I have great confidence in Mark, our leadership team, and the Board as they continue to build on our strong foundation.”

Meanwhile here’s what Hoplamazian had to say about Pritzker’s departure, and his new position:

“I am honored by the Board’s confidence and look forward to serving as Chairman. Tom’s decision reflects his stewardship and strong commitment to Hyatt over his many decades of service. Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing our strategy for long-term growth, advancing care for our colleagues, delivering meaningful experiences for our guests, and driving performance for owners and value for our stockholders.”

The Epstein files is really what’s going on here

If you read Hyatt’s press release, you might assume that Pritzker is just stepping down due to age, or because he’s ready to retire. However, that’s not the case. Instead, it’s because he was featured in the latest release of the Epstein files.

Pritzker did issue a statement apologizing for his involvement, it just wasn’t posted by Hyatt. Here’s what he said:

“Good stewardship also means protecting Hyatt, particularly in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell which I deeply regret. I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner.”

So, what did Pritzker do, exactly? In one set of emails released from April 2018 (not the only one), Epstein had emailed Pritzker to ask for help with hotels for Karyna, his last girlfriend (or situationship, or whatever):

karyna is going on an asian exploration first to bali and then kuaa lumpur and tokyo., can you help her the last two places. ?

Pritzker responded as follows:

Yes. I can go with her 🙂
Happy to help, what can I do?

He was obviously looking for hotel stays for her, and Pritzker then got in touch with Karyna, and asked the following in regards to the trip:

What are you going to do there?

Karyna responded as follows:

Going to try to find a new girlfriend for Jeffrey

To which Pritzker then responded the following:

🙂
May the Force be with you.
tjp

Two things stand out to here:

• It seems less than ideal that Hyatt’s press release talks about how Pritzker “provided strategic stewardship,” as he sure did show some sort of “stewardship” here, eh? “I can go with her,” could you be any creepier?
• Also, wasn’t Epstein fairly well off? Like, he really needed to reach out to his billionaire buddy to have a hotel in Kuala Lumpur that maybe retails for $150 per night covered? Don’t these people have better things to do?

This whole Epstein situation is just absolutely wild to me, and it’s so dismaying to see the type of behavior in the first place, the cover-up, and just how wide these circles run. I guess in life, people want power, money, and sex.

In the case of everything we’re learning about the Epstein files, most of these guys had money and power, so that left sex — their clouded moral judgment is just beyond comprehension. I don’t understand the lack of ethics, because if it were their daughters that were the victims in all of this, I’m sure they’d all feel very differently.

All the Epstein files need to be released, and all of these people need to suffer the consequences for their actions… but let’s get real, that won’t happen.

Bottom line

Hyatt Chairman Tom Pritzker is stepping down effective immediately, after being exposed in the latest round of the Epstein files. Officially, Hyatt doesn’t reference this as the reason for his departure, and instead commends him for his “strategic stewardship.” However, Pritzker did issue a separate statement, apologizing for his involvement.

It’s nice to see at least some people taking accountability for their unethical and creepy behavior…