And today the FUN stock went up over three percent on the mere prospect the company may be changing hands. Hardly a ringing endorsement of current management (yes, I know that supposedly a condition is that current management be retained...but I do NOT see that happening).

As for the Six Flags and coasters over parking lots argument versus the beauty that is current day Kings Island (!), I suggest you visit Six Flags Over Georgia or Six Flags Great Adventure and then make that same comment. The landscaping at either far excels what passes for such at Kings Island these days (but not at any of those three parks fifteen years ago or more).

while i mostly agree with everything else you have said...let me add that stocks almost always go up when an acquisition may be in play..even if it's a rumor! it has nothing to do wit a lack of "endorsement of current management" - just an even better, bigger company making the purchase!

They own property in MI. I wonder if they'll either dump that property, or dump MIA and build a park from scratch when they're in better shape.

while i mostly agree with everything else you have said...let me add that stocks almost always go up when an acquisition may be in play..even if it's a rumor! it has nothing to do wit a lack of "endorsement of current management" - just an even better, bigger company making the purchase!

Can you explain why it's been trading down on higher than avg volume for the last four days?

while i mostly agree with everything else you have said...let me add that stocks almost always go up when an acquisition may be in play..even if it's a rumor! it has nothing to do wit a lack of "endorsement of current management" - just an even better, bigger company making the purchase!

Can you explain why it's been trading down on higher than avg volume for the last four days?

i don't monitor FUN b/c i'm not an investor...but GENERALLY...people will see a stock in the news ("Cedar Fair looking for buyer") and do one of two things: buy a lot or sell a lot...after the article, people were buying like crazy...then, some investors began thinking...wait , maybe that wasn't such a hot idea, and then start selling all their shares....

this stuff happens all the time...if you watch stocks that financial shows talk about, especially shows like cramer's "mad money" on CNBC, the next day after he mentions the stock, it usually goes up several percentage points, but then a few days later levels back down to where it should be...

chris

It would be nice to know what he was going to talk about before the show wouldn't it?

It would be nice to know what he was going to talk about before the show wouldn't it?

Haha, that would be very nice...I watch the show quite a bit, and I would be a billionaire by now, lol

It would be nice to know what he was going to talk about before the show wouldn't it?

Haha, that would be very nice...I watch the show quite a bit, and I would be a billionaire by now, lol

when i first started investing, i would watch the show, do some "homework", and buy it (usually the next day)....i started getting screwed this way, because of the effect his recommendation has on most stocks....so now, once i decide to buy, i wait at least four or five days for the stock to go back down....then again, Cramer does the weekly "game plan", telling people what to buy and when...oh well....

Re-reported by Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews...926108620070709

I do NOT see a private equity firm agreeing to keep current management...why would they assume the risk without the ability to change the risk profile?

I wouldn't listen to these articles so much. This is a lot of speculation. They did the same with Macy's a few weeks ago. If you recall correctly, Macy's just bought May Company a year ago, and it's too early to draw conclusions. The reason these come up is because someone who has too much time on their hands thinks of a company that could be turned around into more profit than what it is making, then they say a private equity firm would buy them out, because they're super rich to begin with. I wouldn't count on any of this.

You can never tell what will happen, but I wouldn't be too quick to consider the Macy's deal dead...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19827468/

And Macy*s may yet be acquired, and soon:

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2007/07/1..._for_24b-2.html

I suspect we will hear some Cedar Fair news in that same vein sooner rather than later. . .

I would say Blackstone may be out of the running for CF (if they were ever in it). Their stock is in the crapper. Matter of fact, I would say the chances of an investment firm stepping in on the CF deal is starting to get less and less as the credit market meltdown is now building steam. CF debt is just to big for a company their size and the risk level for an investment firm is really high. I think CF may find they have two options, do nothing and hope they can survive their debt, or hope they can find a buyer(s) for one or two of the big parks. I would not be surprised to see a noticeable drop in attendance and revenue for CF by the end of the year.

CF 2nd Quarter Conference Call is on the 31st at 2pm so it should be interesting....

I would say Blackstone may be out of the running for CF (if they were ever in it). Their stock is in the crapper. Matter of fact, I would say the chances of an investment firm stepping in on the CF deal is starting to get less and less as the credit market meltdown is now building steam. CF debt is just to big for a company their size and the risk level for an investment firm is really high. I think CF may find they have two options, do nothing and hope they can survive their debt, or hope they can find a buyer(s) for one or two of the big parks. I would not be surprised to see a noticeable drop in attendance and revenue for CF by the end of the year.

CF's debt is too big for a company Blackstone's size? In the Hilton deal Blackstone is forking out $20b in cash and assuming $6b of Hilton's debt.

I would say Blackstone may be out of the running for CF (if they were ever in it). Their stock is in the crapper. Matter of fact, I would say the chances of an investment firm stepping in on the CF deal is starting to get less and less as the credit market meltdown is now building steam. CF debt is just to big for a company their size and the risk level for an investment firm is really high. I think CF may find they have two options, do nothing and hope they can survive their debt, or hope they can find a buyer(s) for one or two of the big parks. I would not be surprised to see a noticeable drop in attendance and revenue for CF by the end of the year.

CF's debt is too big for a company Blackstone's size? In the Hilton deal Blackstone is forking out $20b in cash and assuming $6b of Hilton's debt.

I think you misunderstood my comment. I didn't mean to imply that Blackstone could not afford CF, what I was trying to say is that the credit market is starting to really reprice the cost for high risk debt. CF's debt level makes it a high risk investment and many companies like Blackstone may find this type of risk unwelcomed by it shareholds now that they are a traded company. It will be interesting to see if they make any comments about this on the 31st.

Yes, I did misinterpret what you were saying. I agree with what you were really saying