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SeaWorld on the hunt for a new CEO... again...


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My Spidey senses are telling me that SEAS has a lot of internal strife. They seem to be having trouble retaining higher ups like Carl Lum (former president of BGW, suddenly moved to SWSA, just quit out of the blue a couple weeks ago according to Screamscape) or any of their CEOs.

What confuses me is why. I haven't followed them as closely in the last couple years, but the impression I had was that the chain is slowly on the mend. They seem to be pouring a lot of money into their parks for 2019/2020/2021 to help turn them into coaster destinations instead of focusing on the wildlife, which, in my amateur, don't-have-their-financials-in-front-of-me eyes, seems like one of the better plans of attack after Blackfish.

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  • 6 months later...
55 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

Again:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/seaworld-ceo-resigns-after-5-months-cfo-promoted-effective-immediately-2020-04-06
 

Sounds like a great opportunity for those seeking some temporary seasonal employment in the theme park industry.

Well with SEAS being one of the smaller salaries for a CEO in that industry, Sergio probably couldn't survive on his $600,000 salary being cut 20% :P

One would think navigating rough SEAS should be simple considering their biggest employees come from the seas:P

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I don't really expect many parks to be spun off in the short term. The entire industry is facing this pandemic, and while some companies are doing much better than others, I can see the need for conserving cash far outweighing the prospects of acquisitions, at least for the next year or two. So, it isn't really a question of "if company A sells a park", but rather "can companies B - F afford to buy a park?"

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6 hours ago, KIBOB said:

I don't really expect many parks to be spun off in the short term. The entire industry is facing this pandemic, and while some companies are doing much better than others, I can see the need for conserving cash far outweighing the prospects of acquisitions, at least for the next year or two. So, it isn't really a question of "if company A sells a park", but rather "can companies B - F afford to buy a park?"

I mentioned in another thread that I could certainly see a media group try to purchase a desperate park being sold at an attractive price.  Movie studios will need to find additional ways to market their product.  Paramount is building a park in Korea...Imagine Paramount purchasing Cedar Fair...history does repeat itself...there are always the rumor that Disney was interested in KI...if the price is right and the buyer sees an opportunity...

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I have NEVER heard of any rumors suggesting that Disney was interested in Kings Island. 

I could see Disney buying SEAS before I could see Cedar Fair buying SEAS.  However, purchasing SEAS, if the price was right, could give CF some market diversification.  They would gain some year round operations in Florida, and a park in Texas and one in California.  But BGW is fairly close to Kings Dominion.  And I just do not see CF jumping into an acquisition of that size given the current economic environment.  Though the ideas of a Platinum pass from KI getting you into Sea World Orlando or Busch Gardens Williamsburg is very intriguing.

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16 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

I have NEVER heard of any rumors suggesting that Disney was interested in Kings Island. 

I could see Disney buying SEAS before I could see Cedar Fair buying SEAS.  However, purchasing SEAS, if the price was right, could give CF some market diversification.  They would gain some year round operations in Florida, and a park in Texas and one in California.  But BGW is fairly close to Kings Dominion.  And I just do not see CF jumping into an acquisition of that size given the current economic environment.  Though the ideas of a Platinum pass from KI getting you into Sea World Orlando or Busch Gardens Williamsburg is very intriguing.

I said a rumor...according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a rumor is talk or opinion widely disseminated with no discernible source; OR a statement or report without known authority or truth..

Here is why I said it was a rumor....

Keep in mind that Walt Disney loved our own Coney Island where you work and made several visits to Coney while planning out Disneyland...

Keep in mind that several Disney employees and consultants worked on the development of Kings Island, including Roy Disney himself...

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2017/april/whats-in-a-name

Given these relationships, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that Taft Broadcasting had discussions with Disney about an acquisition at some point...even if it didn't go anywhere....

Given the relationships Matt Ouimet had with Disney, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that topic wasn't discussed at some point...even if it didn't go anywhere...

FUN is a publicly traded company and if the price is right they will sell...

And of course from our very own forum, this thread started in 2007 that was created based on an article on the internet....

And all the various forums discussing the same article such as pointbuzz and others...

http://www.intercot.com/discussion/archive/index.php?t-109886.html

https://www.disboards.com/threads/should-disney-buy-out-cedar-fair-inc.1513807/

I believe this Disney falls under the definition of a rumor....

Did you hear Six Flags was looking to acquire Cedar Fair last year:P....

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I did hear about Six Flags.  I was merely stating that I had not heard any rumor where Disney was seriously considering purchasing Kings Island.  So I was questioning the widely disseminated portion of the rumor.  Not denying that there maybe some truth in some of the points you bring up, just that it wasn`t as mainstream as what the Six Flags rumor was last year.

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Getting a CEO is going to be hard.  You'll see one interim after another until something changes. He was their 8th CEO in 5 years.  Don't tell people it's a career when it's actually a revolving door. They aren't going to attract talent with turnover like that.  Plus no one on the board is being groomed for succession.  That's not something that happens when their CEO is a temp anyway.

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On top of that we're in the midst of a global pandemic that will have a huge impact on the theme park industry as a whole (we just don't know exactly how big at the moment given that we don't know when this will end). Who would want to take over as CEO just to have to deal with that mess?

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^I said the rumors that existed about Disney purchasing Cedar Fair.  I never said they were seriously considering purchasing, I said the rumor exists.  There is a difference between what I said and what you think I said.

As far as the widely disseminated portion,  I would consider Motley Fool, which is headquartered in Alexandria, Va., with offices in Denver and Sydney, Australia, and serves investors and businesses in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, and Germany and has been providing investing insights and financial advice to millions of people for over 25 years to be considered as widely disseminated.  And I wouldn't underestimate the reach of this own forum as well...

Six Flags hit mainstream media because they were seriously considering purchasing Fun and made an offer.  Making an offer is seriously considering purchasing...

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